--- title: "Per-app volume on a Mac. — iSurge" description: "macOS has one volume for the whole Mac. Here is what you can do without an app, and how iSurge gives every app its own volume, mute and speakers." url: https://isurgemac.com/blog/per-app-volume-mac/ --- [BLOG](https://isurgemac.com/blog/) # Per-app volume on a Mac. Turn one app down and leave the rest. macOS has one volume for the whole Mac. Here is what you can do without an app, and how iSurge gives every app its own volume, mute and speakers. By Ruthran Baskar · 30 October 2026 · 4 min read IN SHORT - macOS has one volume for the whole Mac. It can’t turn one app down and leave the rest. - iSurge gives every app that plays sound its own volume, a mute and its own output. - It remembers each app’s volume on each output: one level on headphones, another on speakers. - Sound passes through iSurge to change its volume. Nothing is recorded or stored. To change one app’s volume on a Mac, you need an app that sits between it and your speakers, because macOS has a single volume for everything. iSurge does this: every app that plays sound gets its own slider, a mute and a choice of speakers or headphones, in the notch, the menu bar and its window. SOUND ## Why your Mac has one volume The volume keys and the slider in Control Center set the volume of your output: the speakers, or the headphones you have on. Every app plays into that output at the same level. So when a video is too loud next to your music, or a notification is too loud during a call, the only built-in control turns all of them down together. SOUND ## What you can do without an app Some apps have a volume of their own. Music and Spotify each have a slider, and most video players do too. A browser can mute one tab. These help, but each one lives inside its own app, and many apps, from chat apps to games, have no volume control at all. SOUND ## One app’s volume, in iSurge Open **Sound**in the notch, in the menu bar or in iSurge’s window. Each app that’s playing has a slider: drag it to turn just that app down, or click its speaker to mute it. The slider goes from silent to the app’s own full level, never louder. Apps that use sound but are quiet right now wait under**Show all apps**. Sound in the notch: your output and mics on the left, each app’s volume on the right. SOUND ## Send one app to its own speakers Beside each slider is a menu of your outputs. Pick one, and that app plays there while everything else stays where it was. Music can play on your speakers while a call stays in your AirPods. An app you haven’t given an output follows your Mac’s, as it always did. SOUND ## It remembers, on each output iSurge keeps each app’s volume for every output it has played through. Chrome can sit at 38% on your headphones and 70% on your speakers, and it goes back to the right one when you switch. Apps you never touch play exactly as macOS would, and an app you have set starts at its volume from its very first sound. Each app at its own level, and FaceTime muted. SOUND ## Your mics, too The same page shows your mics: which one is in use, and which app is using it. **Mute all mics**turns every mic off at once, and**⌥⌘M** does the same from any app. PRIVACY ## What it needs Changing an app’s volume means its sound passes through iSurge on the way to your speakers. macOS calls that permission System Audio Recording, and iSurge asks for it before the sliders work. The sound is never recorded or stored. iSurge needs macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon. Some sound is protected, like films from some streaming services, and macOS doesn’t let any app adjust it. iSurge marks those apps **Protected** and lets them play as normal. Calls are never mistaken for it, so your call’s volume stays yours. For everything else in the notch, read [What your MacBook notch can do](https://isurgemac.com/blog/macbook-notch-tabs/), or see [every update](https://isurgemac.com/changelog/). ## Get iSurge Pay once, yours for good. [Buy iSurge](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/) Already have it? [Download](https://isurgemac.com/download) Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Notch features need a MacBook with a notch; everything else works on any supported Mac.