Soundish

Yes. Soundish is $14.99 once. There's no subscription and no paid upgrade, and every update so far has been free to everyone who bought it.

No. Since version 1.5 Soundish uses macOS's own audio taps, so there's nothing to install, no password and no restart. If you're upgrading from an older version that had a driver, Soundish offers to remove it once.

System audio recording, the first time you adjust an app: it's how macOS lets Soundish hear an app's sound so it can change the volume. On macOS 15 and later you'll find it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, under System Audio Recording Only. Bluetooth, the first time it sees a Bluetooth audio device, so it can wake a sleeping speaker. Accessibility (called Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27) only if you switch on the optional mode where the keyboard volume keys control the app you're using. That's all.

No. Soundish controls the apps you run. Alert sounds and other system audio don't belong to an app, so they stay at the device volume. A few menu-bar-only utilities may not appear in the list either.

Yes for their audio: route a call to your headphones while music stays on the speakers. The microphone is a system-wide choice in the popover, not per app.

They show up as output devices like any other, so any app can be sent to them. A speaker that went to sleep can be woken from an app's output menu, as long as Soundish has seen it connected before.

On an Apple Silicon Mac with a monitor connected over HDMI, DisplayPort or USB-C, usually yes. Some Macs' built-in HDMI port and DisplayLink docks don't pass the commands through, and a few monitors ignore them. It's off the table on Intel Macs. Everything else in Soundish works on both.

Soundish changes each app's sound as it passes through. macOS decides what an app can reach, so these stay true.

• Above 100%, loud sound can distort. Soundish makes a quiet app louder by multiplying its sound. Past the loudest the output can play, the sound is clipped, so loud parts distort. There's no limiter.
• Changed sound is stereo. An app Soundish is changing plays in stereo, even when the app itself plays surround sound. On an output with more than two channels, it plays on the first two.
• Video over Bluetooth. Over Bluetooth headphones, sound from an app Soundish is changing can arrive slightly after a video's picture. Put the app back to 100%, unmuted, on System Default with its equalizer off, and Soundish leaves its sound alone.
• A browser is one app. Browsers and apps built on them play from helper processes. Soundish follows those, so the whole browser gets one volume: there's no volume for each tab.
• Soundish has to be running. Your app volumes, outputs and EQ apply while Soundish runs. Quit it and every app plays normally at once. Turn on Launch at Login to have them back after a restart.
• After the trial. When the trial ends without a licence, every app plays normally. Your settings are kept for when you enter a key.
• Devices that come and go. An app sent to a device that goes away, such as Bluetooth headphones, plays on the default output until the device is back.
• AirPods you put on. Putting on AirPods that are already connected makes them the output, even when you've marked them never to be the default. macOS switches to them, and Soundish treats that as your choice.
• A monitor's volume. Where Soundish sets a monitor's volume, it can't read it back. The slider shows the last level Soundish set, and the monitor's own buttons can go past a maximum volume.
• The volume keys. With the volume-keys option on, the keys change the app in front when Soundish lists it, and the Mac's volume otherwise. They need Accessibility (Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27) in Privacy & Security.
• Removed from Accessibility. If Soundish is taken out of Privacy & Security › Accessibility (Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27), for example by a reset, macOS won't ask for it again. In System Settings, click + and add Soundish again: the volume keys work again at once, with no relaunch.
• Recording permission. macOS asks once whether Soundish may capture system audio. Soundish needs that to change an app's sound. Nothing is recorded or saved.

There's no account and no analytics. Soundish goes online for two things: checking your licence key with our payment provider, and looking for updates (a quick check at launch, or when you click Check for Updates). Audio is processed on your Mac and never recorded or sent anywhere.

In Soundish, open Settings › Help › Export Diagnostics and save the file. Then use Email Support in the same place, and attach the file to the email it starts for you. The file lists your Mac's setup and Soundish's settings, with no licence key, email address or window titles, and device names without their owner's name. Nothing is sent unless you send it, and you can read it first.

Per-app control pauses and every app plays normally again. Your device sliders and rules keep working, and your saved settings are kept: add a licence key and they come back. You are never charged automatically, because we never ask for a card.

macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel. Monitor volume over DDC is Apple Silicon only.

Yes: your key works on up to 3 of your own Macs. Moving to a new Mac? Click Deactivate on this Mac in Settings on the old one first. If the old Mac is gone, email hello@appish.app and we'll free the seat.

Yes, if it lets you down. Try it free for 7 days. After you buy, if it doesn't do what its page says on your Mac, tell me within 30 days and I'll fix it or refund you. Email hello@appish.app.