Volumist

A free, open-source per-app volume mixer for macOS.
Set the volume of each app and send it to its own output, right from the menu bar.

Download · Install · FAQ · How it works

Animated demo of Volumist: Spotify and VLC lower themselves when a Zoom call starts, return when it ends, Spotify's balance, leveling and equalizer are adjusted, an output's volume is changed and Spotify is sent to a second output
_{The real interface, animated with sample data.}

macOS has one volume slider for everything. Windows has had a volume mixer for years. Volumist brings the same idea to the Mac: turn the music down without touching your call, mute a noisy app, or play Spotify on your speakers while Zoom stays in your headphones.

Features

Per-app volume, from 0% to 150%, with a soft limiter above 100% to avoid harsh clipping.
Per-app mute with one click.
Per-app leveling: evens out loud and quiet parts, so ads and explosions stop making you jump.
Per-app equalizer: 10 bands from 31 Hz to 16 kHz, with presets such as Bass Boost and Voice, and your own.
Per-app balance between left and right.
Level meters that show what each app is playing.
System volume slider, so everything is in one place.
Per-app output routing: send each app to a different speaker, monitor or pair of headphones.
Two outputs at once: play an app on two devices at the same time, such as speakers in two rooms.
Volume for each output: set every speaker, monitor and pair of headphones separately, even those with no volume control of their own.
Sound for each output: an app can keep its own volume, balance, leveling and equalizer for your headphones and another set for your speakers, and switch by itself.
Scroll over the menu bar icon to change the volume of the current output.
Automatic lowering during calls: music fades down when a call starts and back up when it ends. Choose how far it goes, what counts as a call, and which apps are left alone. Off by default.
Automatic fallback: if a chosen output disconnects, the app moves to the system output and returns when the device comes back.
Remembers your settings for each app.
Groups helper processes, so a browser appears as one row rather than one per process.
No audio driver, kernel extension or virtual device. Volumist uses Apple's Core Audio process taps.
Stays out of the way: apps with default settings don't pass through Volumist at all.
Private: no analytics, and audio is never recorded or stored. The only network request is the optional update check, which is off by default.
Tiny: a native Swift and C app of about 3 MB, with no dependencies.

Requirements

macOS 14.2 (Sonoma) or later. Process taps do not exist on earlier versions.
Apple silicon or Intel (universal binary).

Volumist has been tested on macOS 27.2 on Apple silicon. Reports from other macOS versions and from Intel Macs are very welcome.

Install

Download Volumist-x.y.z.zip from the latest release.
Unzip it and move Volumist.app to /Applications.
Open it. macOS will block the first launch because the app is not notarized by Apple. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Alternatively, run:
```
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Volumist.app
```
The welcome screen walks you through the setup. Allow audio capture when macOS asks: Volumist needs this permission to process the audio of other apps.
Look for the sliders icon in the menu bar.

Build from source

You only need the Xcode Command Line Tools.

git clone https://github.com/jpdominguez/volumist.git
cd volumist
./scripts/build.sh
open build/Volumist.app

Usage

Click the menu bar icon to see the apps that are playing audio, plus any app you have already adjusted.

Volumist menu bar window with a volume for each output, and separate volume sliders and output pickers for Spotify, VLC, Zoom and Discord

Control	What it does
Slider	Sets the app's volume. It snaps to 100% so you can easily return to normal.
Level meter	Shows the app's level while the window is open.
Speaker button	Mutes or unmutes the app.
Sliders button	Opens the app's balance, leveling and equalizer.
Output menu	Picks the device for this app, or System Output to follow macOS.
Top slider	Sets the Mac's volume, the same as the keyboard keys. It is hidden for outputs with no volume control.
Menu bar icon	Click to open the window. Scroll over it to change the current output's volume.
Save as Preset	In the equalizer menu, once it matches no preset. Choose your preset to delete it from the same menu.
Remember for each output	In the app's details. Volume, balance, leveling and equalizer then change with the output.
Lower other apps during calls	Turns automatic lowering on or off.
Lower to	How far apps go down during a call, relative to their own volume.
Detect calls from	Any app using the microphone, or Known call apps only.
Lower in calls	Per-app checkbox, to leave an app out of automatic lowering.
Check for updates	Looks for a new release at launch and once a day, and shows a link if there is one.
Reset App	In the app's details, returns that app to its defaults.
Reset	Returns every app to its defaults.
Open at login	Starts Volumist when you log in.

To close the window, click anywhere else or press Escape. Quitting Volumist returns every app to normal audio.

Limitations

An app that plays to a specific device of its own choosing is sent to the output selected in Volumist once you adjust it.
When an adjusted app starts playing there can be a fraction of a second of silence. This is deliberate: the alternative is a burst at full volume.
Volumes are per app, not per browser tab.
Balance has no effect on mono outputs, such as Bluetooth headphones while their microphone is in use.
The 16 kHz equalizer band is skipped on outputs with a low sample rate, such as that same Bluetooth mode.
Calls are detected from microphone use, so dictating or recording in another app also counts unless you switch to Known call apps only. There you can add more apps, including your browser for calls such as Google Meet. A call in listen-only mode isn't detected.
With two outputs, the sound remembered for each output follows the first one.
Two outputs are not delayed to match each other, so Bluetooth plays later than wired outputs and you may hear an echo if both are in the same room.
Bluetooth headphones switch to a lower-quality mode whenever an app uses their microphone. That is a macOS behavior and it applies to the audio Volumist plays too.
Volumist uses two private system functions (see the architecture notes), so it cannot be distributed through the Mac App Store as it stands.

FAQ

How do I change the volume of individual apps on a Mac?

macOS has no built-in way to do this. Install Volumist, click its menu bar icon and move the slider next to the app.

Is there a volume mixer for Mac like the one in Windows?

Not built in, but Volumist works the same way: one slider per app, in the menu bar.

Can I play different apps through different speakers on a Mac?

Yes. Use the output menu under each app in Volumist.

How do I lower Spotify or music without lowering my Zoom or Teams call?

Lower the slider for the music app and leave the call app at 100%.

Can my Mac lower the music automatically when a call starts?

Yes. Turn on Lower other apps during calls in Volumist. It detects calls from microphone use, fades down the other apps that are playing, and restores them when the call ends. The app in the call is never lowered.

For browser calls such as Google Meet, keep Any app using the microphone selected: browsers are not in the list of known call apps, because they use the microphone for many other things.

How do I stop ads or videos being louder than everything else on a Mac?

Open the app's details in Volumist and turn on Level loud and quiet parts. It lowers loud passages quickly, by up to 12 dB, and raises quiet ones slowly, by up to 9 dB.

Can I use a different equalizer for each app on a Mac?

Yes. Click the sliders button next to an app in Volumist to open its 10-band equalizer.

Does Volumist record my audio?

No. macOS labels the permission "audio capture" because Volumist has to read an app's audio in order to change its volume. The audio is processed in memory, in real time, and goes straight to the output device. Volumist never writes it to disk or sends it anywhere, and you can verify that in the source code.

Does Volumist connect to the internet?

Only if you turn on Check for updates or press Check Now. It then asks GitHub for the latest release, and sends no data about you or your Mac beyond what any web request does. Updates are never installed automatically.

Why does macOS say the app can't be verified?

Releases are not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID. See step 3 of Install, or build it yourself.

An app went silent. What should I do?

Click Reset in Volumist, or quit Volumist: its audio processing ends and the app returns to normal. If the issue persists, check that Volumist is enabled under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, and please open an issue.

How do I uninstall it?

Quit Volumist and move it to the Trash. To also remove its settings, run:

defaults delete io.github.jpdominguez.volumist

Alternatives

If Volumist doesn't fit your needs, you may prefer FineTune, Background Music, or the commercial SoundSource.

Contributing

Bug reports, testing on other Macs and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

jpdominguez/volumist

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README.md