Mac Volume Profiles: Switch Between Work and Home Audio Setup

At 9 AM you need Zoom loud, Slack at a gentle level, music quiet and the browser muted. At 6 PM the workday ends: Zoom doesn't matter, Slack should be silent, music goes up and the browser plays a film at full level. That's five or six apps to adjust by hand, twice a day. Most people don't bother and live with the wrong levels half the time.

The context-switching tax

Your audio needs depend on what you're doing, and they change several times a day: focus time, a stand-up, deep work, lunch, an afternoon call, the evening. Each one has a mix that feels right, and none of them are the same.

What macOS offers

macOS has no concept of an audio setup per context.

• Focus modes (Work, Personal, Do Not Disturb and your own) filter notifications. They can keep Slack from interrupting you, but they don't set Spotify to 25% or Zoom to 100%.
• The volume slider controls the whole Mac at once. Turning music down turns your call down too.
• Each app's own volume control sticks inside that app, but you'd still visit five apps to change contexts.

So natively, switching from work to home means either touching every app or accepting one compromise level.

Build a work and a home profile in SoundDial

SoundDial puts a slider (0% to 200%) and a mute button for every running app in the menu bar, and it can save those settings as named profiles. Switching is one click on a profile chip.

SoundDial doesn't know your apps or your day, so it doesn't come with finished mixes. It does have three chips called Work, Focus and Chill, but they're empty until you fill them. Here's how to set up your own.

Step 1: save your work mix

During a normal workday, with your work apps open:

1. Click SoundDial in the menu bar.
2. Set each app's slider and mute button the way you want them for work.
3. Right-click the Work chip and choose Update.

The Work chip now holds your levels. You can also click +, pick an icon (there's a briefcase among the 10 emoji icons), name it yourself and click Save.

Step 2: save your home mix

In the evening, with the apps you actually use at home running:

1. Set the sliders and mutes for your evening.
2. Click +, pick the house icon, name it "Home" and click Save.

Step 3: switch

Next morning, click Work. In the evening, click Home. Each running app that's in the profile jumps to its saved level and mute state.

Ideas for your mixes

Use these as a starting point and change them to taste. Set the sliders, then save.

Work

• Zoom or Meet: 100%
• Slack: 20%, so notifications are noticeable but quiet
• Music: 25% for background focus
• Browser: muted
• Messages: muted

Home

• Spotify or Apple Music: 80%
• Browser for streaming: 100%
• Slack: muted
• Zoom: muted
• Messages: 50%

Focus

• Music: 40%, ambient or lo-fi
• Other apps: muted

What to know before relying on it

• Profiles store per-app volume and mute only. The Mac's main volume and the output device aren't saved. If you move from desk speakers to headphones in the evening, set those in SoundDial's panel or in the menu bar as usual.
• Profiles change apps that are running. If Spotify isn't open when you click Home, it isn't touched. Open it and click the chip again.
• Apps that weren't running when you saved aren't in the profile. To add one, open it, set its slider, right-click the chip and choose Update.
• Calls are handled separately. SoundDial's auto-ducking (on by default) lowers other apps to 30% of their level while a supported call app such as Zoom, Teams or FaceTime is using the microphone, and brings them back afterwards. Your Work profile's levels are what return after the call. It doesn't detect WhatsApp or Telegram calls. More: automatic audio ducking on Mac.

Keep profiles tidy

Right-click any chip to Rename, Change Icon, Update or Delete it. Two or three profiles you really use beat ten you never click. If your work mix changes, set the sliders and choose Update rather than making a new one.

For a general walk-through of creating profiles, see how to set up volume profiles on Mac and volume profiles on Mac. For a full remote-work setup, see Mac audio setup for remote work.

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.