Lower music during calls on Mac
To lower music during calls on Mac without touching a slider, use SoundDial's auto-duck: while a call app uses your microphone, every other app plays quieter, and the levels come back when the call ends.
Music that was fine a minute ago is too loud the moment a call starts, and you end up hunting for the right app to turn down while someone is already talking. macOS has no setting that lowers other apps for a call.
How auto-duck works
- On by default; turn it off in Settings → Auto-Duck → "Enable auto-ducking"
- "Duck to" from 10% to 80% in 5% steps (30% by default)
- The call app itself is never lowered
SoundDial checks once a second whether a supported call app has its audio input running. When one does, the header of the SoundDial panel shows "Call active" and every other app plays at the duck level, 30% of its own level by default. When the call ends, the apps return to their levels. The sliders keep their values the whole time, so nothing you set is lost.
SoundDial only looks at whether the call app is using its input. It does not open, record or listen to your microphone.
Which apps count as a call
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Discord, Slack, Webex, Skype and Google Meet in Chrome are detected as call apps. Browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and Arc) also count as call apps when a page uses the microphone, so a web call in any of them ducks your music, and the browser itself is not lowered. WhatsApp and Telegram calls are not detected.
There is no per-app exception list: auto-duck lowers every other app in the list. If you want one app to stay loud during calls, turn auto-ducking off and set the levels by hand, or save them as a profile.
When the music drops but SoundDial is off
If music still gets quieter during calls with auto-ducking off, the cause is usually somewhere else: Bluetooth headphones switching to their headset mode when the microphone starts, or a call app's own audio processing. The blog guide on stopping Zoom from lowering your music covers both.
Requirements and price
SoundDial needs macOS 14.2 or later and lives in the menu bar. It is a €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, with no subscription. Auto-duck is part of it, not an add-on.
FAQ
Does SoundDial record my calls or my microphone?
No. It checks whether a call app's audio input is running and never opens the microphone itself. The app has no network access, so nothing leaves your Mac.
Can I keep one app loud during a call?
Not with auto-duck: it lowers every app except the call app. Turn auto-ducking off and set that app's slider yourself if you need it.
Does it work with WhatsApp or Telegram calls?
No. They are not in SoundDial 1.1's list of call apps. Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Discord, Slack, Webex, Skype and browser calls are.
SoundDial: a volume slider and mute button for every app.
€14.99 one-time purchase · macOS 14.2+ · no subscription