Per-App Volume Control on Mac: Your Options in 2026

You want Spotify quieter without your Zoom call getting quieter too. On Windows that's a volume mixer away. On a Mac in 2026, it still isn't built in. Here's an honest rundown of what you can do right now.

What macOS gives you

macOS has one output volume for everything. There is no panel where each app gets its own slider. What you do have:

• Each app's own volume control. Spotify, Music, VLC, Zoom, Discord and most games have their own slider. You adjust inside each app, nothing coordinates them, and some apps have no volume control at all.
• Alert volume. System Settings > Sound has a separate slider for alert sounds. It only affects system alerts, not app audio.
• Focus and notification settings. These can silence notification sounds, but they don't set any app's playback volume.
• The system volume. It's all or nothing: every app goes up or down together.

If you only need one app quieter now and then, its own slider may be enough. If you want every app on its own level from one place, you need a third-party app.

Why this gap exists: Why doesn't Mac have a volume mixer like Windows?

Free options

• Background Music: a free, open-source app that adds per-app volume control. Check the project page for its current status, supported macOS versions and install steps.
• FineTune: a per-app audio project many people find through GitHub. Check its project page for current features and requirements.

Free tools are a reasonable first try if you don't want to spend anything and are comfortable installing and updating open-source software yourself.

Paid options

• SoundSource by Rogue Amoeba: a broad audio tool, $49, sold directly by Rogue Amoeba rather than on the Mac App Store. Check its website for current features.
• SoundDial (our app): a menu-bar app focused on per-app volume, €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription. Details below.
• Other audio tools (for example eqMac or Audio Hijack) come up in the same searches. Many are built for other jobs, such as recording or sound shaping. Check each one's website for current features and price.

What SoundDial does

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac puts a slider and a mute button for every running app in your menu bar.

• Per-app volume from 0% to 200%: lower a loud app, or boost a quiet one above 100%
• Per-app mute: silence one app with one click while the rest keep playing
• Per app, not per tab: all tabs of a browser share one slider
• Does not record anything
• macOS 14.2 or later, €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription

It can also save your current levels and mutes as named profiles you apply with one click, and its auto-duck (on by default, adjustable or off in Settings > Auto-Duck) lowers other apps while a call app uses the microphone. It remembers each app's level too, though mute is not remembered and an app you open later may need a touch of its slider before the saved level applies.

Which one should you pick?

• You rarely need it: use each app's own volume slider.
• You want free: try Background Music or FineTune and check their project pages first.
• You need a broad audio toolkit: look at SoundSource and compare its current feature list with what you need.
• You want a simple per-app slider, mute and boost, bought once from the Mac App Store: try SoundDial.

More on the basics in per-app volume control on Mac, or read our comparison of volume mixer apps for Mac.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.