Does Your Mac Remember Volume Per App?

You get your audio just right: Spotify quiet, Zoom loud, Slack barely audible. Then you restart your Mac, or Slack relaunches, or you reopen Spotify later, and you're adjusting levels again.

Here's the honest answer: macOS doesn't remember a volume per app, because macOS doesn't have per-app volume in the first place. There's one output volume for everything. The good news is that many apps keep their own volume setting, and that's where a level that sticks really lives.

What macOS does remember

• The output volume. Your Mac keeps its system volume across restarts, and it usually keeps a separate level for each output device (built-in speakers, headphones, a monitor). More in different volume per output device on Mac.
• The alert volume. System Settings > Sound has a separate alert volume slider for system alert sounds. It stays where you set it.

Nothing in macOS stores "Spotify at 30%, Zoom at 100%".

Use each app's own volume: it usually sticks

Many apps have an internal volume control that stays where you leave it between launches. Setting the level there once is the closest thing to per-app volume memory you can get.

• Music players: Spotify, Apple Music and VLC each have their own volume slider in the player. Turn the player down rather than the Mac.
• Call apps: Zoom, Teams and Discord have a speaker or output volume in their audio settings. Discord also lets you set how loud each person in a voice channel is for you.
• Websites: many web video players, YouTube for example, keep their own player volume in that browser.
• Notification sounds: Slack and many other apps let you choose or switch off their notification sounds in their own settings, which is often better than lowering them.

A practical setup: keep your Mac's volume at a comfortable level for the loudest thing you need (often calls), then turn the music player and other apps down inside the apps. Next time you open them, they come back at that lower level.

When an app has no volume of its own

Browsers, many utilities and some games have no volume control you can set and leave. For those, macOS only offers the system volume, which also moves everything else.

That's where SoundDial helps. It's a menu-bar app that gives every running app its own slider:

• Set each app's level: drag the browser down while your call stays put
• Mute one app with one click, for example Slack during a call
• Boost a quiet app above 100%, up to 200% (a boost can clip on loud sources, so raise it in small steps)

SoundDial also remembers the level you set for each app. In Settings > General, "Default volume for new apps" has two choices: "Remember last" (the default) keeps each app's saved level and shows it again next time, and "Always 100%" starts every app at full level instead. Two caveats: mute is not remembered, and an app you open later may need a touch of its slider before the saved level applies. For a level that must hold no matter what, the app's own setting from the section above is still the safest. SoundDial works per app, not per browser tab. See how to control per-app volume on Mac for more.

Summary

1. macOS remembers your output volume, not a volume per app.
2. For levels that persist, use each app's own volume or sound settings.
3. For apps without their own slider, use a per-app mixer such as SoundDial, which can remember each app's level (with the caveats above).

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac, needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription. Learn about per-app volume control on Mac, or get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.