Audio Level Meters in the Mac Menu Bar, Per App

Short answer: macOS has no per-app level meter. In SoundDial, rows show a level meter for apps you've adjusted and apps being lowered during a call. To see a meter on every playing app, turn on Show live meters for every playing app, which is off by default and only runs while the popover is open.

Something on your Mac is making noise and you can't tell what. Or a video seems to be playing but you hear nothing, and you're not sure whether the app is silent or the sound is going somewhere else. macOS gives you one volume icon in the menu bar and no way to see which app is producing audio. A per-app level meter helps: a small bar next to an app that moves when the app plays.

What macOS shows you, and what it doesn't

The Sound menu in the menu bar shows your output device and one volume level for everything. It doesn't list which apps are playing, and it has no meter. If three apps are producing sound at once, you can't tell them apart without switching to each one and hunting for its pause button.

Level meters in SoundDial

SoundDial is a menu-bar volume mixer that gives each app that plays sound its own slider from 0% to 200%. In SoundDial 2.0, app rows in the popover can also show a level meter. Click the menu-bar icon, or press Control-Option-S, to open it.

Which rows show a meter

By default, a row shows a meter when you've adjusted that app (turned it down, boosted it, given it an EQ and so on) or when the app is being lowered during a call. That covers the apps you actually care about.

When the app plays, the bar moves; when it's silent, the bar stays still. Browser and Electron helper processes are grouped under their app, so Chrome's meter reflects Chrome as a whole rather than a scattered list of helper processes.

The optional setting: meters for every playing app

If you want a meter on every app that's playing, not just the ones you've adjusted, turn on Show live meters for every playing app in SoundDial's Settings. It's off by default, and it only listens while the popover is open.

With that setting on, macOS shows its recording indicator in the menu bar while the popover is open. That's expected: to draw a meter for an app you haven't touched, SoundDial listens to that app's audio, and macOS signals that. SoundDial is sandboxed, has no network entitlement and needs no account, and it does not read or record microphone audio. If you'd rather not see the indicator, leave the setting off; adjusted apps keep their meters either way. The permission explainer has more on this.

What you can do with them

Find the noisy app

A sound you don't recognize, a background tab that started a video, an app that plays a sound on every update. With Show live meters for every playing app turned on, open the popover and look for the bar that's moving. Once you've found it, mute it or pull its slider down right there in the same row. See how to mute one app.

Even without the setting, the popover lists the apps that play sound, and apps that haven't played for 10 minutes collapse into Not playing (N), which narrows the search.

Check whether an app is actually playing

When you hear nothing, a meter tells you which half of the problem you have. If an app's bar is moving, the app is producing sound and the issue is elsewhere: the app might be muted in SoundDial (look for Muted on its row), set to a very low level, or sent to a different output with ⋯ → Play Through (its row then shows the device name). If the bar is still, the app itself isn't playing anything, and you can stop checking your speakers. For an app you haven't adjusted, this needs the every-app setting turned on.

Balance levels by eye

Getting music and a voice call, or a game and a chat app, to sit well together is usually done by ear. Meters let you do it by eye as well. Start the apps you want to mix, adjust them so their meters appear, and move the sliders until the levels look right. If one app is much quieter than the rest, boost it above 100%, up to 200%; SoundDial applies a soft limiter there that rounds off peaks instead of clipping them hard. If one is too loud, pull it down.

Once the mix is right, choose Save current mix as a profile so you can get back to it in one click. A profile stores each app's volume, mute, EQ and balance.

See call lowering and EQ at work

Chips on each row show what's being applied: Muted, Ducked, the output device, EQ, L or R for balance, and Applies when it plays for settings waiting on an app that isn't playing yet. During a call, the popover shows Call – others lowered, and with Lower other apps during calls on (the default) other apps play at 30% of their volume. Lowered apps show a meter, so you can watch them drop and come back when the call ends.

Limits to know

• Per app, not per tab. Chrome gets one meter and one slider for all of its tabs. If several tabs are playing, you'll see Chrome's combined activity.
• Only in the popover. The meters live in SoundDial's popover, not in the menu bar itself, and the every-app setting only listens while the popover is open.
• Not every process is listed. System UI processes don't get a slider or a meter.

Common questions

Is there a level meter in the Mac menu bar by default?

No. macOS shows one volume level for the whole system, with no per-app meter. SoundDial shows meters in its menu-bar popover for apps you've adjusted or that are lowered during a call, and for every playing app if you turn on the optional setting.

Why did the recording indicator appear when I opened SoundDial?

You probably have Show live meters for every playing app turned on. With it on, macOS shows its recording indicator while the popover is open. Turn the setting off if you prefer not to see it.

Do the meters run all the time?

No. The every-app setting is off by default, and when it's on it only listens while the popover is open.

Can I see which Chrome tab is playing?

No. SoundDial works per app, so all of Chrome's tabs share one row, one slider and one meter.

Does SoundDial listen to my microphone?

No. SoundDial does not read or record microphone audio. To lower other apps during calls, it only checks whether a call app or browser reports that audio input is in use.

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.