FineTune: Per-App Volume Control for Your Mac's Menu Bar

Ever have your video call volume cranked up, only to get blasted by a system notification sound? Or maybe you're listening to music but need to hear a tutorial video at a lower level. On macOS, managing individual app volumes has always meant diving into the system Audio MIDI Setup or relying on an app's own, often missing, controls. It's a workflow hiccup that shouldn't exist.

Enter FineTune. It's a lightweight, open-source menu bar app that finally gives you the simple, granular control you've wanted. No more digging through system panels—just click, slide, and adjust.

What It Does

FineTune lives in your menu bar. Click its icon, and you get a live list of every application currently outputting audio on your Mac. Next to each app's name is a volume slider. Slide it left or right to adjust that specific app's volume independently of your system master volume and all other apps. It's that straightforward.

Why It's Cool

The beauty of FineTune is in its simplicity and directness. It solves a very specific pain point without bloat. Instead of being part of a massive audio suite, it's a single-purpose tool that does its job perfectly.

Under the hood, it's built using Swift and leverages macOS's Core Audio APIs to interact directly with audio sessions. This isn't a hacky workaround; it's using the system's own framework to give you clean, reliable control. The project is also a great example of a focused, well-scoped utility app for other developers to learn from.

For your daily use, think of the scenarios: lowering Discord while keeping your game loud, turning down a browser tab with an auto-playing video, or creating the perfect audio balance between your music player and a podcast. It turns a multi-step process into a one-click operation.

How to Try It

Ready to fine-tune your audio? Head over to the GitHub repository:

FineTune on GitHub

You'll find the latest release available for direct download. It's a standard macOS application. Just download the .zip, extract it, and move FineTune.app to your Applications folder. Run it, and you'll see its icon appear in your menu bar. No installation wizard, no complicated setup.

Final Thoughts

As a developer, I appreciate tools that are minimal, effective, and open source. FineTune is exactly that. It scratches an itch I didn't always consciously acknowledge but am now glad to have resolved. For other devs, it's not just a useful utility; it's a clean codebase that demonstrates practical interaction with macOS audio systems. If you've ever wanted more control over your audio environment, give FineTune a few minutes. You probably won't want to go back.

Follow for more cool projects: @githubprojects