By default, your Mac would not assist you to management the amount ranges of particular person apps, one thing Home windows has provided for years. In case your alerts from messaging apps are too loud, you possibly can both put the Mac in do-not-disturb mode to mute these alerts, or decrease the system quantity, however that is it. It isn’t excellent, since reducing system quantity additionally impacts media quantity, which might typically make it arduous to hearken to music or hear dialogue in TV reveals or motion pictures. Should you might individually toggle quantity ranges per app, that might be excellent. Luckily, some third-party apps assist you to do that, and this information highlights one of the best of them.

FineTune: A free Mac app for per-app sound management

Credit score: Pranay Parab

A free app that permits you to decrease or mute alert tones whereas sustaining media quantity, FineTune is sweet sufficient for most individuals. It is open-source, and has a number of easy sliders that allow you to management every app’s quantity degree. My earlier choose for this job—BackgroundMusic—not works properly, because it hasn’t been up to date shortly. FineTune’s are available to fill that hole properly, and it does what it says on the tin.

As soon as you put in the app, you possibly can click on its menu bar icon to finetune any particular person app’s quantity. When an app begins enjoying audio in your Mac, it’s going to seem in FineTune’s interface. And when you’re achieved transferring your sliders to vary quantity ranges, you will shortly uncover a few different helpful options, reminiscent of controlling the amount ranges of every of your output system (audio system, headphones, and many others.), and an equalizer for every app in your laptop. You may also ship audio from one app to a selected speaker or headphone. I’ve used these options to decrease my AirPods’ quantity whereas retaining my Mac’s speaker louder, and to set a bass-friendly EQ preset on these AirPods. You’ll be able to mess around with these instruments to get the job achieved in line with your wants, too.

FineTune additionally has a handy quantity increase characteristic, which helps you to improve the amount as much as 400% on a per-app foundation. That is good for information the place the amount ranges are nearly inaudible, however I would be picky about how you utilize it.

SoundSource: A paid app for superior quantity management

Credit score: Pranay Parab

Most individuals can be pleased with FineTune’s characteristic set and lack of a price ticket. Nonetheless, in case you want an app that may management AirPlay units in your own home, ship audio to a number of units directly, allow a per-app EQ with two dozen presets, set a most well-liked system order for audio output, and rather more, then it is best to take into account SoundSource 6 ($49). The app’s been round for over a decade, and the latest model launched in direction of the tip of 2025.

With SoundSource, the fundamental performance permits you to management the audio ranges of every app, nevertheless it additionally has a number of different neat touches. My favourite characteristic is the one that permits you to mute all sound results with only one click on. I am unsure about you, however alert sounds from messaging apps are likely to make me a bit anxious. A few of my mates are likely to ship a number of brief texts directly, too, which makes my Mac’s speaker go off like a siren. I’ve tried placing my Mac on do-not-disturb mode, however that hides these alerts altogether, which is not excellent both. Ever since I bought SoundSource, I’ve simply muted all sound results. This lets me obtain notifications with out the annoying tones, and it permits me to observe motion pictures sans interruptions from alert tones.

You may also group a number of units in SoundSource, and ship audio to all of them directly, which is a simple solution to create a multi-room audio setup. After all, you possibly can’t have your audio 100% in sync, so do not get your hopes up about making a encompass sound system with 5 low-cost Bluetooth audio system. Nonetheless, it is ok in case you simply wish to have music enjoying in each room of your own home when you prepare dinner, clear, or simply transfer round. SoundSource’s help for AirPlay units means you can ship audio to your HomePod and different AirPlay units like TVs or audio system, too.

SoundSource additionally has granular controls for varied options. For instance, you possibly can arrange a keyboard shortcut to extend or lower your microphone’s quantity, or to mute the mic altogether. One other attention-grabbing characteristic permits you to arrange a mute timer, which units the amount to zero for as much as 2 minutes for particular apps or output units. It is clear by now that SoundSource has a lot of nice options below the hood, which is superb for energy customers, however in all probability overkill for anybody who simply needs to set separate quantity ranges for a pair apps. The excellent news is that SoundSource affords a free trial that permits you to use all of its options for as much as 20 minutes at a time, so you possibly can attempt it out to see if it is price shopping for.