How to Set Different Volume Levels for Each App on Your Mac
By default, your Mac doesn’t allow you to adjust the volume level of individual apps, unlike Windows, which has offered this feature for years . If notifications from messaging apps are too loud, you can either put your Mac into Do Not Disturb mode to silence them or lower the system volume, but that’s about it. This isn’t ideal, as lowering the system volume also affects media volume, which can sometimes make it difficult to listen to music or understand dialogue in TV shows or movies. It would be ideal if you could adjust the volume level for each app individually. Fortunately, some third-party apps allow this, and this guide highlights the best ones.
FineTune: A free Mac app that lets you control audio on a per-app basis.
FineTune is a free app that lets you reduce or mute sound alerts while maintaining media volume, and it’s perfectly suitable for most users. It’s open-source and offers a few simple sliders for adjusting the volume level for each app. My previous choice for this task , BackgroundMusic , no longer works properly because it hasn’t been updated in a while. FineTune fills this gap perfectly and does what its name suggests.
Once you install the app, you can click its icon in the menu bar to fine-tune the volume of any individual app. When the app starts playing audio on your Mac, it will appear in the FineTune interface. Once you’ve finished adjusting the volume sliders, you’ll quickly discover several other useful features, such as volume control for each of your output devices (speakers, headphones, etc.) and an equalizer for each app on your computer. You can also send audio from one app to a specific speaker or headphones. I used these features to lower the volume of my AirPods while keeping the speaker volume on my Mac higher, and to set a bass-optimized equalizer preset on these AirPods. You can also experiment with these tools to tailor the task to your needs.
FineTune also has a handy volume boost feature that allows you to increase the volume up to 400% for each application individually. This is great for files where the volume is barely audible, but I wouldn’t recommend using it too extensively.
SoundSource: A paid app for advanced volume control.
Most users will be satisfied with FineTune’s feature set and low price. However, if you need an app that can control AirPlay devices in your home, stream audio to multiple devices simultaneously, enable a per-app equalizer with two dozen presets, set the preferred order of audio output devices, and more, then you should consider SoundSource 6 ($49). The app has been around for over a decade, and its latest version was released in late 2025 .
SoundSource’s basic functionality allows you to control the volume level of each app, but it also has a few other useful features. My favorite is the ability to mute all sound effects with one click. I don’t know about you, but I get irritated by sound notifications from instant messaging apps. Some of my friends also frequently send several short messages at once, which causes my Mac’s speaker to sound like a siren. I tried enabling Do Not Disturb mode , but that completely hides these notifications, which isn’t ideal. Since installing SoundSource, I’ve simply turned off all sound effects. This allows me to receive notifications without annoying sounds and watch movies without interruptions from sound notifications.
SoundSource also lets you connect multiple devices and stream audio to them all simultaneously, making it an easy way to create a multi-room audio system. Of course, 100% audio synchronization isn’t possible, so don’t expect to create a surround sound system with five cheap Bluetooth speakers. However, it’s sufficient if you simply want music playing in every room of your home while you cook, clean, or simply move around. SoundSource’s support for AirPlay devices means you can also stream audio to HomePod and other AirPlay devices, such as TVs or speakers.
SoundSource also offers detailed settings for various features. For example, you can set a keyboard shortcut to increase or decrease microphone volume, or mute the microphone completely. Another interesting feature allows you to set a mute timer that reduces the volume for up to 2 minutes for specific applications or output devices. Clearly, SoundSource has a lot of great features, which is great for experienced users, but probably overkill for those who just want to set separate volume levels for a couple of applications. The good news is that SoundSource offers a free trial that lets you use all its features for up to 20 minutes at a time, so you can try it out and decide whether it’s worth buying.