macOS Menu Bar App to mute/unmute the default microphone
Important
This app only mutes or unmutes the currently selected default audio input device on your Mac.
If you use an external device, you must set it as the default input device in System Settings → Sound for this app to work.
- A single click on the Menu Bar icon toggles mute/unmute. The icon always reflects the current mute state.
- Right-clicking the Menu Bar icon opens the panel with all settings and controls:
- Unmute Volume – sets the input volume that's applied every time you unmute, whether via the icon, the keyboard shortcut, or a hardware mute button. If the input volume gets changed elsewhere while unmuted, the app restores it to this value on the next unmute.
- Play sounds – plays a short, distinct sound on mute and on unmute, so you always know your current state without looking.
- Show HUD – briefly shows an on-screen overlay (similar to the system volume/brightness HUD) whenever the mic gets muted or unmuted.
- Always show HUD – keeps the HUD permanently visible instead of fading out after a second.
- Red HUD icon – tints the HUD icon red while muted.
- Show device name – widens the HUD to show the name of the current input device next to the icon.
- Red Menubar Background / Red Menubar Icon – optionally tint the Menu Bar icon and/or give it a red background while muted, for extra visibility at a glance.
- Set Input Volume to 0 – in addition to the normal mute, also sets the input volume to 0 while muted. Useful for devices/drivers that don't fully respect the standard mute signal.
- Push to talk – hold the keyboard shortcut to go live only while it's held down; release to mute again immediately. (Push to talk only works via the keyboard shortcut, not by holding down the Menu Bar icon.)
- Launch at login – does what it actually says.
- Keyboard Shortcut – set a global shortcut to toggle mute from anywhere, even while another app is focused.
- Also works with most hardware mute buttons (e.g. on headsets): toggleMute detects the change and keeps the Menu Bar icon, HUD, and sound feedback in sync — even for devices that only signal mute by dropping their volume rather than using the standard CoreAudio mute flag.
- Checks for updates automatically (at launch, and at least once a day while running) and shows a notification if a new version is available on GitHub.
brew tap satrik/togglemute
brew trust --cask satrik/togglemute/togglemute
brew install togglemute
xattr -cr /Applications/toggleMute.app- Download the toggleMute.dmg file from the latest release.
- Alternatively, you can clone or download the repository.
- Mount toggleMute.dmg and move toggleMute.app to your Applications folder.
- Run (double-click) toggleMuteDisableQuarantine.command.
- If this doesn’t work, execute xattr -cr /Applications/toggleMute.app in the Terminal.
- Launch the app for the first time via Right-click → Open and select Trust me
brew update
brew updgrade
xattr -cr /Applications/toggleMute.appImportant
If you have problems with the HUD position in fullscreen apps, please go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility and delete the toggleMute entry.
Then just open the toggleMute settings and disable/enable Show HUD to get the permissions again
Repeat the steps from the manually install section and replace the old app
Menubar Preview:
HUD Preview:
