How to Add Volume Control to the Mac Menu Bar (and Get a Per-App Mixer There)

To put volume control in your Mac's menu bar, open System Settings → Control Centre, find Sound, and set it to Always Show in Menu Bar. That gives you one master slider and an output device list. It does not give you a slider per app, because macOS has none. For that you need a menu bar mixer such as Soundish, which adds a volume slider for every app that is playing sound.

How do I add the volume slider to the Mac menu bar?

1. Open System Settings → Control Centre.
2. Scroll to the Menu Bar Only section (on some versions the Sound option sits in the main list instead).
3. Find Sound and choose Always Show in Menu Bar. The exact wording varies slightly between macOS versions.

A speaker icon appears in the menu bar. Click it for the master volume slider and the list of output devices.

There is a shortcut too. Open Control Centre (the two-toggle icon at the top right), then drag the Sound slider straight onto the menu bar. It stays there until you drag it off.

What can the built-in menu bar volume control actually do?

Not much beyond the basics, but a few keyboard tricks are worth knowing:

• Master volume slider: changes the output level for every app at once.
• Output switching: pick headphones, speakers or an HDMI display from the list.
• Shift + Option + volume key: changes the volume in quarter steps instead of full steps, which helps when one step is too loud or too quiet.
• Option + volume key: opens System Settings → Sound directly.

What it can't do: lower Chrome while Spotify stays put, mute only Discord, or send one app to a different output. Everything in that menu is system-wide. If that is the actual problem, see how to mute one app without muting everything else.

Why is the volume icon missing or greyed out?

There are three usual causes.

1. The menu bar is full. On a MacBook with a notch, icons that don't fit are hidden behind it, not shown in a second row. Hold ⌘ and drag icons to reorder them, or drag the ones you rarely use off the bar. Quitting a couple of menu bar apps also frees space.

2. The setting got switched off. Check System Settings → Control Centre → Sound again. Major macOS updates sometimes reset it.

3. The slider is greyed out. This happens when the current output is an HDMI or DisplayPort monitor, or a digital interface with no volume control. macOS can't change the level on those, so it locks the slider. Switch to another output to confirm. The Sound Output greyed-out guide goes through the other causes. Soundish can control external monitor volume and mute over DDC on Apple Silicon Macs, if your monitor supports it.

How do I get per-app volume sliders in the menu bar?

macOS has no built-in per-app mixer, and Windows has had one since Vista. So a menu bar mixer has to sit between each app and your speakers, and it can only do that if it can attribute each audio stream to the right app.

That is harder than it sounds. Chrome, Slack and Discord play sound from helper processes that don't look like the parent app. Attributing those streams back to the right name took me longer than any other part of building Soundish.

With Soundish, the setup is:

1. Download it and open it. It lives in the menu bar. Nothing to install beyond the app itself: no driver, no password, no restart.
2. macOS asks once to let Soundish capture system audio. Allow it. Nothing is recorded or saved.
3. Play something. Each app making sound shows up in the popover with its own slider (0-200%), a mute button and an output picker.

The master volume slider is in the same popover, so it can replace the stock icon. Soundish must be running for its settings to apply. Quit it and every app plays normally again.

What else can a menu bar mixer do that the stock icon can't?

• Send an app to a different device. For example, Spotify to the speakers and Discord to the headphones.
• Go past 100%. Overdrive up to 200% for a quiet video or call. Volume overdrive is explained here.
• Equalise one app. A 10-band EQ per app (31 Hz to 16 kHz, ±12 dB) with presets.
• Save setups. Profiles store every app's volume, mute, output and EQ, and you can apply one from the popover or a hotkey. More on that in saving and restoring audio profiles.
• Keyboard control. Global hotkeys for the frontmost app's volume up, down and mute, and to cycle output devices. The optional volume keys feature, which makes your keyboard volume keys control the frontmost app, needs Device Control and Data Access permission (called Accessibility before macOS 27).

Soundish needs macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later and runs on Apple Silicon and Intel. It costs $14.99 once after a 7-day free trial with no card needed. One licence covers up to 3 of your own Macs.

It doesn't support Audio Unit plug-in effects. If you need those, SoundSource is the right tool.

Should I use the built-in icon or a mixer?

If you only ever change the overall level, the built-in icon is enough and costs nothing. Add a mixer when you catch yourself lowering the system volume because one app is too loud, then raising it again for everything else. If your Mac also keeps jumping to the wrong speaker, that is a separate problem with a separate fix in stopping Mac audio output switching devices.

Common questions

Is there a keyboard shortcut for Mac volume control?

Yes. The volume keys (F11/F12 on many keyboards) change the master level, and Shift + Option makes the steps smaller. Soundish adds global hotkeys for the frontmost app's volume, so a shortcut can turn down one app without touching the rest.

What is the best Mac volume control app?

It depends on what you need. For per-app volume, output routing and EQ at a one-time price, Soundish is $14.99. SoundSource is the pick if you need Audio Unit plug-ins. If you only want to nudge the master level, the built-in menu bar icon is enough.

Why is Mac volume control not working?

The usual cause is an output that has no software volume, such as some HDMI or DisplayPort monitors. Switch to another output to check. If the keyboard keys stop working, restarting the audio service or the Mac normally clears it.