How to Set a Different Volume Level for Each App on Your Mac
By default, your Mac doesn't allow you to control the volume levels of individual apps, something Windows has offered for years. If your alerts from messaging apps are too loud, you can either put the Mac in do-not-disturb mode to mute those alerts, or lower the system volume, but that's it. It's not ideal, since lowering system volume also impacts media volume, which can sometimes make it hard to listen to music or hear dialogue in TV shows or movies. If you could separately toggle volume levels per app, that would be ideal. Fortunately, some third-party apps allow you to do this, and this guide highlights the best of them.
FineTune: A free Mac app for per-app sound control
A free app that lets you lower or mute alert tones while maintaining media volume, FineTune is good enough for most people. It's open-source, and has a few simple sliders that let you control each app's volume level. My previous pick for this job—BackgroundMusic—no longer works well, as it hasn't been updated in a while. FineTune's come in to fill that gap nicely, and it does what it says on the tin.
Once you install the app, you can click its menu bar icon to finetune any individual app's volume. When an app starts playing audio on your Mac, it'll appear in FineTune's interface. And once you're done moving your sliders to change volume levels, you'll quickly discover a couple of other useful features, such as controlling the volume levels of each of your output device (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 headphone. I've used these features to lower my AirPods' volume while keeping my Mac's speaker louder, and to set a bass-friendly EQ preset on those AirPods. You can play around with these tools to get the job done according to your needs, too.
FineTune also has a convenient volume boost feature, which lets you increase the volume up to 400% on a per-app basis. This is good for files where the volume levels are almost inaudible, but I'd be choosy about how you use it.
SoundSource: A paid app for advanced volume control
Most people will be happy with FineTune's feature set and lack of a price tag. However, if you need an app that can control AirPlay devices in your house, send audio to multiple devices at once, enable a per-app EQ with two dozen presets, set a preferred device order for audio output, and much more, then you should consider SoundSource 6 ($49). The app's been around for over a decade, and the newest version released towards the end of 2025.
With SoundSource, the basic functionality lets you control the audio levels of each app, but it also has a few other neat touches. My favorite feature is the one that lets you mute all sound effects with just one click. I'm not sure about you, but alert sounds from messaging apps tend to make me a bit anxious. Some of my friends tend to send multiple short texts at once, too, which makes my Mac's speaker go off like a siren. I've tried putting my Mac on do-not-disturb mode, but that hides those alerts altogether, which isn't ideal either. Ever since I got SoundSource, I've just muted all sound effects. This lets me receive notifications without the annoying tones, and it allows me to watch movies sans interruptions from alert tones.
You can also group multiple devices in SoundSource, and send audio to all of them at once, which is an easy way to create a multi-room audio setup. Of course, you can't have your audio 100% in sync, so don't get your hopes up about creating a surround sound system with five cheap Bluetooth speakers. However, it's good enough if you just want to have music playing in every room of your house while you cook, clean, or just move around. SoundSource's support for AirPlay devices means that you can send audio to your HomePod and other AirPlay devices like TVs or speakers, too.
SoundSource also has granular controls for various features. As an example, you can set up a keyboard shortcut to increase or decrease your microphone's volume, or to mute the mic altogether. Another interesting feature lets you set up a mute timer, which sets the volume to zero for up to 2 minutes for specific apps or output devices. It's clear by now that SoundSource has lots of great features under the hood, which is amazing for power users, but probably overkill for anyone who just wants to set separate volume levels for a couple apps. The good news is that SoundSource offers a free trial that lets you use all of its features for up to 20 minutes at a time, so you can try it out to see if it's worth buying.