SoundDial Setup Guide: First Run, Step by Step

Short answer: Install SoundDial from the Mac App Store, open it and follow the guided setup until it confirms that audio access works. Then every app that plays sound gets its own slider in the menu bar.

SoundDial is a menu-bar app, so there's no big window waiting for you after you install it. This guide walks through the first run: installing it, granting the one permission macOS requires, making your first adjustments, learning the two hotkeys and saving your first profile. It takes a few minutes, and you only do most of it once.

Before you start

SoundDial needs macOS 14.2 or later. It costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, with no subscription and no in-app purchases.

Step 1: Install from the Mac App Store

1. Open the SoundDial page on the Mac App Store.
2. Buy and install it like any other App Store app.
3. Open SoundDial from your Applications folder.

SoundDial lives in the menu bar. Its Dock icon is off by default; you can turn it on in Settings if you prefer one.

Step 2: Follow the guided setup

On first launch, SoundDial opens a guided setup with 6 pages. Its main job is getting you through the macOS permission that per-app volume needs, and then proving that it works.

When macOS asks, allow the access. If you need to do it by hand, open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording and turn SoundDial on in the System Audio Recording Only list.

Why this permission? Changing another app's volume means working with the audio that app plays, and macOS puts that access behind this privacy setting. SoundDial uses it to change levels. It is sandboxed, its only entitlement is audio input, it has no network entitlement and no account, and it does not read or record microphone audio. The permission explainer goes into more detail.

Step 3: Let the setup check access

You don't have to guess whether it worked. The guided setup verifies audio access with a real test before you finish. Once it passes, per-app volume works.

If it doesn't pass, turn SoundDial off and on again in the System Audio Recording Only list, then quit and reopen SoundDial. You can come back at any time: Settings > Setup & Help has Check Again and Open Guided Setup.

Step 4: Launch at login and volume memory (optional)

If you want SoundDial ready every time you start your Mac, turn on launch at login in Settings.

Then decide what should happen when an app opens. In Settings > General > When an app opens, choose Remember last to bring back each app's volume, mute, balance, EQ, output device and pinned state when it opens, or Always 100% to start every app fresh.

Step 5: Make your first adjustments

Click the SoundDial icon in the menu bar, or press Control-Option-S, to open the popover. Each app that plays sound gets its own row, whether it's Safari, Chrome, Spotify, Music, Zoom or Discord. Helper processes of browsers, Electron apps and WebKit are grouped under their app, so one slider controls the whole app. System UI processes don't get a slider.

1. Set a volume. Drag an app's slider anywhere from 0% to 200%. Above 100%, the slider turns amber and SoundDial applies a soft limiter that rounds off peaks instead of clipping them hard. There's a snap point near 100%.
2. Mute an app. Mute it from its row, and the row shows Muted.
3. Open the ⋯ menu. Each row has a ⋯ menu with Equalizer & Balance…, Play Through, Keep in List and Reset to 100%.
4. Try the EQ. Choose ⋯ > Equalizer & Balance… and turn on the switch. You get 10 bands from 31 Hz to 16 kHz (±12 dB each), 11 presets such as Bass Boost, Vocal and Podcast, and a balance slider. Changes apply instantly, and Reset EQ & Balance puts everything back.
5. Try Play Through. Choose ⋯ > Play Through and pick an output device to send just that app there, or leave it on Same as the app (default). Different apps can play on different devices at the same time.

Apps that haven't played for 10 minutes and aren't kept in the list collapse into Not playing (N), so the list stays short. One limit to know: control is per app, not per browser tab. All Chrome tabs share Chrome's slider.

Step 6: Learn the two hotkeys

• Control-Option-S shows or hides SoundDial.
• Control-Option-M mutes or unmutes all apps shown in the main list.

They work anywhere on your Mac without the Accessibility permission. In Settings you can record a different key, reset them or turn them off, and SoundDial flags a combination that clashes with another shortcut.

Step 7: Save your first profile

SoundDial has no built-in profiles. You make your own from whatever mix you have right now.

1. Set your apps the way you want them, for example music at 40% with the Bass Boost preset and your browser at 100%.
2. Choose Save current mix as a profile.
3. Give it a name such as Work or Gaming and pick one of the 10 icons.

A profile stores each app's volume, mute, EQ and balance. It does not store Play Through routing or the call setting. Applying a profile changes running apps right away and the others the next time they launch. Right-click a profile for Update with Current Volumes, Rename…, Change Icon or Delete; Settings > Profiles lists them too.

Where to find the rest

• General: When an app opens.
• Look and list: the menu bar icon style (Dial, Speaker or Waveform) and sorting by Name or Most Recent.
• Call setting: Lower other apps during calls is on by default and plays other apps at 30% of their volume during a call, adjustable from 5% to 80%.
• Audio & Devices > Output Devices: your output devices. The popover's output card shows the device's format, a sample-rate menu when the device offers more than one rate, and a software volume slider for devices with no volume control of their own.
• Profiles: apply, update or delete your saved profiles.
• Setup & Help: Check Again, Open Guided Setup, Email Support and Copy Diagnostics.

SoundDial is available in 34 languages.

Common questions

I installed SoundDial but can't find a window. Where is it?

It's in the menu bar. Click its icon or press Control-Option-S. There's no Dock icon unless you turn it on in Settings.

The setup check won't pass. What now?

Turn SoundDial off and on in System Audio Recording Only, quit and reopen SoundDial, then use Settings > Setup & Help > Check Again. If the popover says Audio access isn't working, click Fix It. Still stuck? Use Copy Diagnostics and Email Support in the same section.

Why don't some processes get a slider?

System UI processes don't get one. Apps that play sound do, with their helper processes grouped under them.

Will my volumes come back after a restart?

Yes, if When an app opens is set to Remember last. Turn on launch at login so SoundDial is running as soon as you log in.

Does a profile remember which device each app plays on?

No. Profiles store volume, mute, EQ and balance, not Play Through routing.

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.