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clipvolume

Who's making that noise?

Eight apps open, a call starts, and something starts playing. Find it, turn it down, mute it, or pause it — from one speaker icon.

Download for macOS See how it works

macOS 14.4+ · free for personal use · open source

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the mixer macOS forgot

One speaker icon. Every app.

Windows has had a per-app volume mixer for twenty years. Your Mac has one now.

Finds the source

Every app producing audio, listed by name with a live level meter — so the one that's bouncing is the one making noise.

Per-app volume & mute

Each app gets its own slider and mute button, relative to the master. Relaunch the app and it comes back at 100%.

Pause the right thing

Play/pause Spotify, Music, TV, QuickTime or VLC directly — even Spotify playing on your office speakers — instead of guessing what the ⏯ key will hit.

No drivers. No Accessibility.

Built on Apple's own Core Audio process taps. No virtual audio device, no kernel extension, no Accessibility permission — ever.

how to use it

Click. Look. Fix.

It replaces the Sound icon in your menu bar and stays out of the way until something starts playing that shouldn't be.

1

Click the speaker

Master volume, mute, and an output-device picker — the three things Control Center buried. Nothing to set up, no permission to grant.

Thu 2:14 PM
62%
MacBook Pro Speakers
Mixer· 3 playing
2

Open the mixer

Hit Mixer › and every app that's producing audio drops down with a bouncing level meter, its own slider, mute — and play/pause where the app supports it. The guilty one is the one that's moving.

Thu 2:14 PM
62%
MacBook Pro Speakers
Mixer
Google Chrome
Spotify
zoom.us
☐ Launch at LoginQuit
3

Pause Spotify.
Not the meeting.

Spotify on the office speakers, YouTube in your headphones, and the ⏯ key pauses… whichever one macOS feels like. clipvolume talks to each app directly.

Pause the one playing across the room

Mixer
Google Chrome
SpotifyPlaying on another device

Mute the tab you can't pause

Mixer
Google Chrome
zoom.us
what it asks for

Two prompts, both honest

Most of the app needs nothing at all. Here's exactly which feature needs what, and why.

FeaturePermission
Master volume, mute, device pickerStandard Core Audio device controlsNone
Which apps are making soundCore Audio's own process listNone
Level meters, per-app volume & muteCore Audio process taps: listen to one app's audio, and when you turn it down, play it back quieterSystem Audio Recording — one prompt, first time you open the Mixer
Play / pauseSpotify, Music, TV, QuickTime Player, VLCAutomation — one prompt per app, first time you press ⏯
Accessibility Virtual audio driver Kernel extension Network access

Why "System Audio Recording" for a volume app?

macOS has no per-app volume API. The only driverless way to control one app's sound is to tap it: clipvolume asks Core Audio to mute that app at the speakers and hands the audio back to clipvolume, which plays it at the volume you chose. Apple files that capability under System Audio Recording. Apps you haven't touched are never routed through clipvolume, nothing is written to disk, and the app makes no network connections — the source is right there.

questions

The short answers

Can it pause a YouTube tab?
It can mute one instantly. Browsers don't expose play/pause to other apps, so a tab can't be paused from outside — Spotify, Music, TV, QuickTime Player and VLC can.
How does it know Spotify is playing on my office speakers?
When Spotify is playing via Spotify Connect it makes no sound on your Mac, so it wouldn't appear in a normal mixer. clipvolume asks the Spotify app for its state and shows it as a row anyway — Playing on another device — with a pause button that works.
What happens to my per-app settings?
They last as long as the app does. Quit Spotify and relaunch it and it's back at 100%, unmuted. Muted apps keep their row while they're running, even when they go quiet, so you can always unmute.
Does it add latency?
Only for apps you've turned down or muted, and only a few milliseconds — the audio goes through one extra Core Audio buffer. Apps at 100% are never touched.
Why isn't it on the Mac App Store?
Process taps don't work reliably inside the App Store sandbox. So it ships the way SoundSource and Loopback do: direct download, signed with a Developer ID, notarized by Apple, no security warning.
Which macOS versions?
macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) or later — that's when Apple gave process taps their own permission. Apple silicon and Intel.
clipvolume

Get clipvolume

Free for personal use, open source, and about as light as a menu bar app gets.

Free for personal use · CC BY-NC 4.0 · macOS 14.4+
License & what you're agreeing to
clipvolume is © 2026 Michael Moore, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). By downloading you acknowledge:
  • You're free to use, share and adapt it for non-commercial purposes.
  • You must give appropriate attribution to the author.
  • Commercial use is not permitted without permission.
  • The software is provided “as is”, with no warranty, and the author is not liable for any damages.
  • The mixer asks for System Audio Recording; nothing is recorded, saved, or sent anywhere — the app makes no network connections.
  • The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens normally — no security warning.

Read the full license text ↗

v0.1.0

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