"One app is hogging my speakers" almost always means one of three different problems: the app has locked the device for its own exclusive use, the app is simply louder than everything else, or the app keeps grabbing the default output so every other app follows it there. They feel similar. They are not the same fault, and they do not share a fix.
Searching for this tends to surface advice for whichever meaning the writer had in mind, unhelpful if yours is one of the other two. Below are all three, rarest to most common, with what causes each and what fixes it.
1. An app has locked the device so nothing else can use it
This is the least common meaning, but it is the one people picture first: a device that genuinely will not play anything from any other app while one app is running. It happens when an app requests exclusive access to an audio interface through its own driver, a mode sometimes labelled "exclusive mode" or "hog mode" inside the app's own settings. While that mode is active, the app owns the device outright, and macOS itself has no way to hand any part of it to another app until the first one lets go.
This is mostly a professional audio thing. A DAW like Logic or Ableton, or a dedicated driver for an audio interface, may ask for exclusive access so it can guarantee timing with no other app interfering, which matters for recording in a way it does not for everyday listening. It is rare on a Mac's built-in speakers and on most consumer Bluetooth or USB devices, since those rarely offer an exclusive mode to request at all.
If turning that setting off in the app does not free the device, the driver behind it is the next place to check, since some interfaces hold exclusive access at the driver level rather than the app level. This is the one case here no menu-bar utility can reach. Chorus sits above macOS's normal audio routing, and a device an app has deliberately locked through its own driver is by definition outside that layer. The fix has to come from the app or driver holding the lock, not from anything working around it.
2. An app is simply too loud next to everything else
Far more often, nothing is locked at all. The Mac has one system volume, and every app shares it, so a game with its levels turned up, or a browser tab that autoplays at full volume, can drown out a call or a podcast running alongside it without touching any setting that says "exclusive." This is a balance problem, not a technical one: the loud app has not taken the device from anyone, it is just louder than what you are trying to hear next to it.
The fix is a volume control for one app rather than the whole system. macOS has started building this in for some apps through Control Center's Sound module, but coverage is inconsistent and nothing is remembered once an app quits. Chorus gives every app currently playing sound its own independent slider, regardless of whether it supports macOS's own per-app feature, and remembers each level for next time. See our guide to per-app volume on a Mac if this is the meaning that matches what you are hearing.
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Download for Mac3. An app keeps stealing the default output for everything else
The third meaning is subtler: one app is not louder or locked, but every time it opens or plays something, it becomes the Mac's default output, and every other app that has not explicitly chosen a device follows it there. A meeting app switches the whole Mac to a USB headset the moment a call starts. A game that supports a controller's built-in speaker makes that the default the instant it launches, taking music and notifications with it. Nothing about this is loud or exclusive, it is that one app keeps repositioning where everything else's sound goes.
macOS does not give apps a lane of their own by default, so whichever app most recently asked for a specific device tends to win the default for the whole system, a related gap we cover in why your Mac keeps defaulting to the wrong speaker. The fix here is not volume at all, it is routing: giving specific apps their own fixed output so they stop competing for the one shared default. Chorus can send an individual app to a device you choose and leave it there regardless of what else is playing, covered fully in our guide to sending one app to a different output.
Working out which one you actually have
A quick way to tell them apart: if other apps make no sound at all while the one app is running, that is exclusive locking, fixed inside the app holding the device. If other apps still play but get buried under one app's volume, that is a balance problem, and a per-app volume slider solves it directly. If everything else keeps jumping to a device you did not choose whenever one app opens, that is default-stealing, and it needs per-app routing rather than a volume change.
Chorus covers the second and third of these from the same menu-bar panel, alongside grouping several outputs to act as one and a keyboard shortcut for switching devices. It is a one-time purchase, $4.99, covering up to three Macs, with a 30-day free trial that includes every feature and needs no account or card details to start. It runs on macOS 13 or later, on both Intel and Apple Silicon, using the same audio grouping mechanism already built into macOS rather than a driver or kernel extension.
For the step-by-step on building a Multi-Output Device, see Apple's own guide to Audio MIDI Setup.
Frequently asked questions
Why does one app seem to be hogging my Mac's speakers?
It is almost always one of three separate problems: an app has locked the output device for its own exclusive use, an app is simply playing louder than everything else, or an app keeps making itself the default output so every other app follows it there. Each has a different cause and a different fix.
Can an app really lock my Mac's speakers so nothing else can use them?
Rarely, but yes. Some professional audio apps can request exclusive access to an audio interface through its own driver, which shuts every other app out of that device until the app releases it. This is uncommon on built-in speakers and consumer devices, and it is not something any menu-bar utility, including Chorus, can override, because the app's own driver is the one enforcing it.
How do I check if an app has exclusive access to my audio device?
Open the app's own audio or preferences settings first, since exclusive-mode drivers are usually a toggle inside the app itself, often labelled something like 'exclusive mode' or 'hog mode'. Audio MIDI Setup can also show whether a device is in use. If turning that setting off in the app does not help, the device's own driver documentation is the next place to look.
Does Chorus stop an app from being too loud or stealing the default speaker?
Yes, for both of those. Chorus gives every app its own volume slider so a loud app can be turned down without touching anything else, and it can send specific apps to specific outputs so they stop competing over which device is the default.
Does Chorus fix true exclusive-mode device locking?
No. Exclusive access is enforced by the app's own audio driver at a level no menu-bar utility can reach or override. Chorus fixes the two far more common meanings of 'hogging the speakers,' one app being too loud and one app stealing the default output, but a genuine device lock has to be released by the app that is holding it.
