You're deep in a song, a podcast, or a YouTube video — then a call comes in on FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams. The second you join, macOS quietly yanks everything else down to a whisper. It's called audio ducking, and Apple gives you no switch to turn it off.
If you want your music to stay loud during a call, your only options are the paid pro-audio apps — the kind that cost real money for what should be a single toggle. Most people just put up with the quiet.
Unduck Pro is a tiny menu-bar app that keeps your media at full volume during calls — and the person on the other end still hears only you, never your music. While it's at it, it also gives you a proper per-app volume mixer and a quick output-device switcher, right from the menu bar.
No subscriptions. No paywall. No account. Just download it and it works.
- 🔊 Media stays loud on calls — FaceTime, Zoom, Meet, Teams and more. No ducking, no fiddling.
- 🙊 No bleed — your audio is never pushed into your mic, so callers hear only you.
- 🎛️ Per-app volume mixer — set each app's level independently (set it before it even plays, and it's remembered).
- 🎧 Output switcher — jump between speakers, AirPods, and other devices without opening System Settings.
- ⭐ Favorites — pin the apps you always want at hand.
- ⚡ Automatic — it notices when a call starts and stops on its own. Just keep it in your menu bar.
- 🚀 Launch at login — start it automatically when you log in (optional, in Settings).
- 🔔 Update notifications — it tells you when a new version is out, one click to download.
- 🪶 Featherweight — a small menu-bar app. No kernel extensions, no virtual audio cables.
- 🆓 Free & open source (MIT).
Requires macOS 14.2 or newer — it's built on Apple's modern Core Audio process-tap API.
- Download the latest Unduck Pro
.dmgfrom the Releases page. - Open the DMG and drag Unduck Pro into your Applications folder.
- Allow it through macOS security. Because the app is free and self-signed
(not a paid, Apple-notarized certificate), macOS blocks the first launch with a
"can't be opened… Apple could not verify it is free of malware" warning. To
let it run:
- Double-click the app once, then close the warning.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Unduck Pro, and click Open Anyway, then Open to confirm.
- (On older macOS you can instead right-click the app → Open → Open.)
- When it asks for microphone access, click Allow. It needs audio access to do its job — it does not record or send your microphone anywhere. (You can also toggle this later under Privacy & Security → Microphone.)
- Done — the duck appears in your menu bar and works automatically on your next call.
It runs quietly while it's in your menu bar — there's nothing to switch on. Open the panel and use the ⚙︎ gear for Settings (launch at login, updates), or Quit to stop it.
git clone https://github.com/MrRockySL/Unduck-Pro.git
cd Unduck-Pro
./script/make_cert.sh # one-time: creates a local code-signing certificate
./script/build_app.sh # builds and signs "Unduck Pro.app"
open "Unduck Pro.app"The certificate step matters: macOS won't grant microphone access to an ad-hoc
signed app, so the build signs with a stable, self-signed certificate created by
make_cert.sh.
Unduck Pro is built entirely on Apple's public Core Audio process-tap API (macOS 14.2+) — no virtual drivers, no kernel extensions, no third-party code.
- Un-duck: it continuously resets macOS's ducking so your media snaps back to full volume — with no digital boost or distortion.
- No bleed: your media is routed through a private aggregate audio device that the call app never "hears," so it can't leak into the call.
- Per-app mixer: each playing app is captured on its own tap, scaled by your chosen volume, mixed, and passed through a hard limiter so nothing can ever blast your speakers.
Planned for a future update:
- 🎚️ Per-call volume — turn the call itself (FaceTime / Zoom) up or down, built the right way so the other person never hears an echo.
This is an open project and contributions are very welcome. Found a bug, have a feature idea, or want to improve something? Open an issue or send a pull request — let's make it better together.
MIT — free to use, change, and share.
Made by MrRockySL.