Volume Control for macOS

♫ Control the volume of Apple Music, Spotify, Doppler, Swinsian, and your display with your keyboard's volume keys.

Free, and it will stay free. Open source (GPL-3.0).

🚀 Now compatible with macOS 27 Golden Gate (supports Ventura and newer).
✅ Fully notarized — no workarounds required to install.

This app is the spiritual successor to iTunes Volume Control, offering a simple yet powerful way to adjust volume for your favorite music apps directly from your keyboard — especially when listening via AirPlay or external speakers.

Volume Control started in 2012 under the name iTunes Volume Control (now an archived repository), when iTunes was still Apple's music app. It was created because AirPlay speakers follow the music app's volume, not the Mac's system volume.

On macOS 26 and later, the volume HUD looks like the system volume HUD, with the icon of the player it controls:

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Why Use This App?
• Installation
• Permissions
• Troubleshooting
• Requirements
• Building from Source
• Credits
• Donations
• Author
• Versions

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Features

• Control the volume of Apple Music, Spotify, Doppler, and Swinsian 3.0+ using the volume up and volume down keys.
• Especially useful when using AirPlay devices or external speakers.
• Customize the volume step size.
• On macOS 26 and later, the volume HUD matches the system volume HUD: the same Liquid Glass, slider with tick marks, size and position.
• Option to hide the volume bezel overlay (HUD).
• Control the volume of monitor and TV speakers through BetterDisplay (free version) with Control display volume (from 2.6.0), or through Lunar (free version, from 2.7.0).
• When Music, Spotify, Doppler, or Swinsian is playing, volume keys affect their volume; otherwise, they adjust system volume.
• Holding ⌘ (Command) key inverts this behavior.
• Toggle behavior with the "Use ⌘ modifier" option.

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Why Use This App?

• macOS does not allow controlling Apple Music's volume via keyboard keys — only the system volume.
• AirPlay speakers depend on app-specific volume, not system volume.
• This app restores fine-grained volume control directly from your keyboard.
• Avoid the intrusive volume HUD overlay when watching movies.
• Works seamlessly with Spotify, Doppler, and Swinsian, too.

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Installation

1. Download the latest notarized release.
2. Unzip the archive.
3. Drag the app into your Applications folder (or anywhere you like).
4. Launch the app.

That’s it — no extra Terminal commands or security tweaks are required. 🎉

With Homebrew

brew install --cask volume-control

Homebrew installs the app into Applications. After that, the app updates itself through its built-in updater, so brew upgrade leaves it alone unless you run brew upgrade --greedy.

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Permissions

The app requires Accessibility and Automation permissions to control other apps' volumes.

1. When prompted, allow access to control Music, Spotify, Doppler, and Swinsian.
2. If you missed it or need to reset:
   • Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
   • Remove and re-add Volume Control.
   • Also check Automation and ensure all music players are enabled.

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Troubleshooting

The volume keys stop working after a while. Another app that handles the volume keys, such as BetterDisplay or MonitorControl (apps that control the volume of external displays), may take them away from Volume Control. Unticking and re-ticking Enable in the menu brings them back until that app takes them again. Turn off that app's handling of the volume keys. If you cannot, tick Stay ahead of other apps in the menu (from 2.5.0): Volume Control then checks every second whether another app receives the system keys before it, and moves itself back in front. With this option on and an app such as BetterDisplay handling the volume keys, both apps work together: when Volume Control acts on the system volume and the output device has no software volume control, it passes the key on, and BetterDisplay changes the display's volume. To see which apps intercept system keys (the volume, brightness and media keys), choose Copy Diagnostics... and look at the section "Apps that intercept system keys" (from 2.4.1).

The volume keys never work, although Accessibility is granted. The permission record is probably stale: quit Volume Control, remove it from System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility with the "−" button, then add it again and relaunch.

The volume keys do not change the system volume. macOS cannot change the volume of some output devices, for example the speakers of most monitors and TVs. Volume Control can change the volume of such a display if the menu option Control display volume is on (from 2.6.0). It does so through one of two third-party apps for managing displays, either BetterDisplay or, from 2.7.0, Lunar; the free version of either app is enough.

Reporting a problem. Choose Copy Diagnostics... in the menu. Volume Control copies a diagnostics report to your clipboard. Nothing is sent over the Internet — it is plain text you can read and edit before sharing. Paste it into a GitHub issue.

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Requirements

• macOS Ventura (13.5) or later (Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe, Golden Gate)
• Intel or Apple Silicon Macs
• Accessibility and Automation permissions granted

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Building from Source

If you prefer or need to compile the app yourself using Xcode, see the instructions 👉 here.

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Credits

• Inspired by Volume for iTunes by Yogi Patel
• Icon design by Alexandro Rei
• Apple Remote integration adapted from iremotepipe by Steven Wittens
• Native HUD overlay by Benno Krauss and reverse-engineered use of OSDUIHelper
• Doppler support by Ed Wellbrook
• Swinsian support by Andrea Alberti
• Insightful discussions and support by waydabber for the Liquid Glass effect for Tahoe HUD

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Donations

If this app improves your workflow, consider supporting development:

Or click here:

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Author

Andrea Alberti GitHub: @alberti42

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Versions

What changed in each version since 2.0.0 is listed in CHANGELOG.md.

You can download older versions here:

• 2.6.0: Added the "Control display volume" option, which changes the volume of the speakers of a monitor or TV through BetterDisplay.
• 2.5.1: On a display without software volume control, the volume keys are passed on to macOS when no player is playing; Copy Diagnostics says whether Volume Control can control the system volume.
• 2.5.0: Added the "Stay ahead of other apps" option, which keeps the volume keys with Volume Control when another app, such as BetterDisplay, takes them.
• 2.4.1: Spotify's volume steps the same amount up and down; Copy Diagnostics lists the apps that intercept system keys and no longer freezes; Option + volume key opens the Sound settings again.
• 2.4.0: On macOS 26 and later, the volume HUD looks like the system volume HUD; holding Command switches the volume keys on Macs where the volume key event arrived without the Command key; unticking and re-ticking Enable brings back volume keys that stopped working.
• 2.3.2: Compatible with macOS 27 Golden Gate; a player that stops responding no longer freezes Volume Control; more detail in Copy Diagnostics.
• 2.3.0: Better support for displays and devices without a standard volume control; added the Copy Diagnostics menu item.
• 2.2.2: Fixed the position of the volume HUD when the menu bar icon is hidden or the menu bar hides automatically.
• 2.2.1: Smoother volume changes when holding a key; fixed the volume HUD jumping to a wrong position.
• 2.2.0: Added support for Swinsian 3.0+; added support for LocalSigning.xcconfig for easier local development.
• 2.1.0: Brought back HUD for volume indication in Tahoe.
• 2.0.1: Fixed a bug preventing controlling volume of music players.
• 2.0.0: Notarized and compatible with Tahoe. Many improvements under the hood.
• 1.7.7: Added option for locking system and player volumes together.
• 1.7.6: Fixes some bugs with the volume not reaching zero.
• 1.7.5: Universal application compiled to run natively on both Apple Silicon and Apple Intel.
• 1.7.4: Added support for Doppler Music Player thanks to Ed Wellbrook.
• 1.7.3: Made acoustic feedback when changing volume more responsive. Fixed minor bugs. Switch to updates through GitHub repository.
• 1.7.2: Fixed appearance of icon according to Monterey MacOS style.
• 1.7.0: Changed name to Volume Control; compatibility with Big Sur; compiled for universal bundle for Apple M1 and Intel.
• 1.6.8: Fixed a bug when switching appearance to dark mode; improved volume control with apple key modifier.
• 1.6.7: Improved compatibility with Catalina and new Music app.
• 1.6.6: Restored compatibility with MacOS High Sierra and subsequent versions.
• 1.6.5: Fixed a bug to avoid launching Spotify and iTunes at start of the app, if these program are not already running.
• 1.6.4: Fixed crash on start due to failed permissions for AppleEvents.
• 1.6.3: Removed codesigning that was causing the app to crash when starting.
• 1.6.2: Fixed bug preventing Spotify's volume to be controlled.
• 1.6.1: Improved visualization of volume status using even marks.
• 1.6.0: Able to control Spotify, iTunes, and main volume.
• 1.5.3: Made use of Mojave's native heads-up display to show the volume status.
• 1.5.2: Fixed compatibility with Mojave. Prior versions are no longer supported. Fixed small bug on displaying the volume level when controlling it with the Apple Remote.
• 1.5.1: Added the compatibility with Mac OS X versions greater than OS X 10.7 (Lion).
• 1.5: Added the possibility to change the increment step on the volume. Backward compatible with Mavericks and Yosemite.
• 1.4.10: Corrected bug on repositioning the volume indicator on right position.
• 1.4.9: Started to prepare the transition to Yosemite look.
• 1.4.8: Updates are now signed with DSA. This improves the security, e.g., preventing man-in-the-middle attacks.
• 1.4.7: Changed icons and graphics to be compatible with retina display.
• 1.4.6: Added the option to hide the icon from status bar. The icon reappears temporarily (for 10 seconds) by simply restarting the application. This gives the time to change the hide behavior as desired.
• 1.4.5: Added the option to enable/disable automatic updates occurring once a week
• 1.4.4: Corrected two bugs: the focus remains correctly on the selected application after changing the volume; cap lock does not prevent anymore the volume to be changed.
• 1.4.3: Corrected bug: properly hide transparent panels when animations are completed (thanks to Justin Kerr Sheckler)
• 1.4.2: Added iTunes icon to volume indicator. Corrected bug when iTunes is busy.
• 1.4.1: Added automatic upgrade capability.
• 1.4: Added "mute" control.
• 1.3: Added graphic overlay panel indicating the volume level.
• 1.2: Added options, load at login, use CMD modifier.
• 1.1: Controlling iTunes volume using Apple Remote.
• 1.0: Controlling iTunes volume using keyboard "volume up"/"volume down".

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💡 Found a bug or want to contribute? Open an issue or submit a pull request!