If you liked FineTune but want something actively maintained and installed from a trusted source, SoundDial is the fastest reliable fix. It is a Mac App Store menu-bar per-app volume mixer with independent volume, per-app mute, volume boost, saved profiles, and auto-ducking. Apple-reviewed and sandboxed, it costs €14.99 once with no drivers to install.
Why look for a FineTune alternative at all?
FineTune is a nice idea: a free, open-source menu-bar app that gives you per-app volume control on macOS, something Apple still refuses to build in (Windows has had a per-app mixer for years). For a lot of people it does the basic job. But there are real reasons users go looking for something else.
- Maintenance is uncertain. Open-source hobby projects live and die on a single maintainer's free time. When macOS ships a major update, audio-related apps are often the first to break, and you are left waiting for a volunteer fix that may never come.
- Feature ceiling. FineTune covers per-app volume and little else. If you want boost above 100%, saved profiles, or automatic ducking, you have to bolt on other tools.
- Trust and updates. Installing a raw build outside the App Store means no automatic review, no sandbox guarantees, and manual updates you have to track yourself.
None of this makes FineTune bad. It just means that if you rely on per-app audio every day, you probably want something with a support model behind it.
What SoundDial does differently
SoundDial starts from the same core idea, a menu-bar mixer with a slider for every running app, then goes further with the features power users actually ask for.
- Independent volume per app. Turn Spotify down, keep your call at full volume, mute a noisy browser tab's app entirely, all from one menu.
- Per-app volume boost. Push a quiet app above its normal ceiling when a podcast or video was mastered too low. FineTune does not do this.
- Volume profiles. Save a mix, "focus", "gaming", "meetings", and switch your whole setup in one click instead of nudging five sliders.
- Auto-ducking. Automatically lower background audio when something more important starts playing, so music dips when a call comes in.
- Quick output switching. Jump between speakers, headphones, and other outputs without diving into System Settings.
Because SoundDial ships through the Mac App Store, it is Apple-reviewed and sandboxed, installs cleanly, and updates through the same mechanism as every other App Store app. There is no DMG to drag, no audio driver or system extension, and no security prompt asking you to allow a kernel-level component.
SoundDial vs. FineTune and the other free tools
FineTune is not the only free option, and it helps to see the whole landscape honestly.
- FineTune — Free, open-source, menu-bar per-app volume. Simple and lightweight, but no boost, no profiles, no ducking, and maintenance depends on the community.
- Background Music — Free and open-source, routes and adjusts per-app audio. Genuinely useful, but it can break on newer macOS releases and lacks boost, profiles, and ducking.
- eqMac — Free EQ and system booster. Great if you mainly want an equalizer, but it is not a per-app mixer.
- SoundSource (Rogue Amoeba) — The pro-grade option at around $39, with per-app EQ and output routing. Excellent, but it needs a download plus an audio-capture driver, and it costs more than twice as much.
- SoundDial — €14.99 one-time, App Store-safe, no drivers. Adds boost, profiles, and auto-ducking on top of the per-app volume basics.
The honest summary: if you want the absolute cheapest thing and only need basic per-app volume, the free tools can work. If you want per-app EQ and routing and do not mind paying and installing a driver, SoundSource is the heavyweight. SoundDial sits in the sweet spot, more capable than the free apps, dramatically cheaper than SoundSource, and safer to install than either because Apple reviews and sandboxes it.
Moving over from FineTune
Switching takes a couple of minutes and there is no cleanup ritual.
- Install SoundDial from the Mac App Store. No installer, no driver approval, no restart.
- Click the SoundDial icon in your menu bar to see a slider for each running app.
- Set your everyday mix, then save it as a profile so you can recall it instantly.
- Optionally turn on auto-ducking so background audio steps aside for calls and alerts.
- When you are happy, quit FineTune. Since neither app installs system drivers, there is nothing lingering to uninstall.
You keep the thing you liked about FineTune, a clean menu-bar mixer that Apple never gave you, and you gain the boost, profiles, ducking, and long-term support that a maintained App Store app provides.
The bottom line
FineTune proves the concept: per-app volume belongs in the menu bar. SoundDial is what that concept looks like with a real support model, more features, and App Store safety, for a one-time €14.99 instead of a bet on volunteer upkeep.
Ready for a per-app mixer that stays maintained? Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store and control every app's volume in seconds.