Guide · No sound

No sound on your Mac? How to fix the speakers, headphones and microphone

By the AI Repair team · Updated 20 October 2026

When your Mac goes quiet, it’s rarely broken. Usually the sound is muted, turned down, or going somewhere you don’t expect: to headphones in a drawer, a TV, or a speaker in another room. This guide checks those first, then the app you’re listening in, then the microphone, gentlest step first.

In short

Press the volume up key and make sure your Mac isn’t muted. Then open System Settings › Sound, click Output and choose the speakers or headphones you want (on macOS 12, System Preferences › Sound › Output). Check the app’s own volume too. If no app plays any sound, restart your Mac. If people can’t hear you, check the mute button in your call app, the Input in Sound settings, and that the app is allowed under Privacy & Security › Microphone.

1. Turn the volume up and check mute

Press the volume up key, the one with the loud speaker on it, a few times. If a crossed-out speaker appears on the screen, your Mac was muted: the mute key, or volume up, turns the sound back on. You can also click Control Center in the menu bar at the top right of the screen and drag the Sound slider to the right.

No sound from the keys at all? The sound may be going to a TV or speakers whose volume your Mac can’t set (step 4).

2. Check where the sound is going

Your Mac sends its sound to one place at a time, and it often switches by itself when you connect headphones, a TV or a speaker. Check which one it picked (Apple’s guide):

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Sound in the sidebar. You may need to scroll.
Under Output & Input, click Output.
Click the speakers or headphones you want in the list. Your Mac’s own speakers are named after it, like MacBook Air Speakers.
Check that Output volume isn’t all the way to the left and that Mute is off.

On macOS 12 Monterey: choose Apple menu › System Preferences, click Sound, then Output at the top. Your Mac’s own speakers are called Internal Speakers or are named after your Mac. At the bottom, check that Output volume isn’t all the way to the left and that Mute isn’t ticked.

For your Mac’s own speakers, Apple also suggests unplugging any headphones or speakers first. For speakers plugged in by USB, check they’re switched on; if they don’t appear in the list, unplug them and plug them in again.

3. Check the app you’re listening in

If other sounds play but one app is silent, the app itself is turned down. An app can be quieter than your Mac, never louder.

Find the app’s own volume slider or speaker button and turn it up.
In Safari, a speaker icon in the tab or in the address bar silences that page: click it.
In a call app such as Zoom or Teams, open its settings, choose Audio, and pick the speaker you want, or Same as System.
Quit the app and open it again. To compare, play a song or a video in another app.

4. Sound on a TV or monitor

When your Mac is connected to a TV or a monitor, it often sends the sound there. Its volume is then set on the TV or monitor, not on your Mac, which is why the volume keys may do nothing.

Use the TV’s remote or the monitor’s buttons to turn the volume up, and check it isn’t muted.
Some monitors have no speakers. Then choose your Mac’s own speakers instead (step 2).
For a speaker or TV on your Wi-Fi, check that it’s switched on, and use its own volume control.

5. Headphones that won’t play

Wired: unplug them and plug them in again, firmly and all the way in.
Bluetooth: check that they’re on and charged. If they have a case, put them in it for 10 seconds, then take them out. If they’re connected to your phone or another computer, disconnect them there first.
Then choose them as your output: click Control Center in the menu bar, click Sound, and choose your headphones. Or choose them under Output in Sound settings (step 2).

Headphones that won’t connect at all are a Bluetooth problem: our guide Mac Bluetooth not working? goes through it.

6. When people can’t hear you

Start with the call itself, then your Mac:

In the call, find the microphone button. If it has a line through it, click it once to turn your microphone on.
If your headset has its own mute switch or button, on the cable or the ear cup, turn mute off.
In the app’s settings, under Audio, choose the microphone you want, or Same as System.
Open System Settings › Sound, and under Output & Input click Input (on macOS 12, System Preferences › Sound › Input). Click the microphone you want: your headset, or your Mac’s own microphone.
Speak normally. The Input level bars should move. If they barely move, drag Input volume to the right.
Leave the call and join it again.

For a call in a web browser, like Google Meet, click the icon to the left of the web address and allow the microphone. In Safari, choose Safari › Settings (Preferences on macOS 12), click Websites, then Microphone, and allow the website (Apple’s guide).

A Mac mini or a Mac Studio has no microphone of its own: plug in or connect a headset or a microphone.

7. Let the app use the microphone

macOS asks you once whether each app may use the microphone. If the answer was no, the app hears nothing until you change it (Apple’s guide):

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. You may need to scroll.
Click Microphone.
Find your app in the list, for example Zoom, and turn its switch on.
If a message says the app must quit first, click Quit & Reopen.

If your app isn’t in the list, open it and use the microphone once: your Mac asks you, and you click Allow.

On macOS 12 Monterey: choose Apple menu › System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then Privacy at the top, then Microphone on the left. If the boxes are grey, click the lock at the bottom left and enter your Mac’s password. Then tick the box next to your app. An app that isn’t listed asks the first time it uses the microphone; click OK.

8. No sound in any app? Restart your Mac

If nothing plays in any app, though the volume is up and the right speakers are chosen, or the sound crackles, stutters or cuts out everywhere, the part of macOS that plays sound may be stuck. Restarting your Mac starts it fresh: save your work, close your apps, then choose Apple menu › Restart.

When it may be the hardware

If, after a restart, Sound settings list no speakers or no microphone at all, or your Mac’s own speakers crackle at every volume, a part may be faulty. Apple Support or an Apple Authorized Service Provider can check it. For speakers plugged in by USB, Apple suggests holding Option, choosing Apple menu › System Information and clicking USB: if the speakers aren’t listed there, unplug them and plug them in again, and check their own instructions.

Advice you can skip

Typing Terminal commands to restart the sound system. Restarting your Mac does the same, safely.
Resetting the SMC or NVRAM on a Mac with Apple silicon. Apple says those steps aren’t needed there.
Installing a “volume booster” or sound-fixing app before you’ve tried the steps above. Some add a sound device of their own, which is one more place for your sound to go.
Deleting sound settings files from your Library folder. Apple doesn’t ask for it, and the steps above reach the same settings safely.

Let AI Repair find the sound

Type “I can’t hear anything” and AI Repair checks where your sound is going: the speakers, headphones or TV in use, the volume and whether it’s muted, and the microphone in use and its level. Then it explains what it found in plain words.

It unmutes your Mac or sets the volume you ask for, which it can undo, then plays a short test sound and asks whether you heard it
It turns up a microphone that is set too low, and shows you how to choose the speakers or microphone you want and how to let your call app use the microphone, which only you can change
When no app plays any sound, it can restart your Mac’s sound service, without restarting the Mac: every app goes quiet for a few seconds, a call too

Each change waits for your OK unless you’ve set that kind of fix to Auto. Restarting the sound service needs the app’s helper, which you allow once; on macOS 12 it isn’t offered, and AI Repair shows you how to restart your Mac instead.

Download for Mac

Asking and checking are free · Apple silicon, macOS 12 or later

Common questions

Why is there no sound on my Mac when the volume is up?

The sound is probably going somewhere else: to headphones, a TV or monitor, or a speaker on your Wi-Fi. Open Sound settings, click Output and choose your Mac’s speakers. If it’s only one app, check that app’s own volume.

Why does my Mac’s sound come from the TV?

When you connect a TV or a monitor with speakers, your Mac often sends the sound there. Turn it up with the TV’s remote, or choose your Mac’s own speakers under Output in Sound settings.

Why can’t people hear me on a video call on my Mac?

Most often the microphone is muted in the call app or on the headset, the app uses a different microphone, or the app isn’t allowed to use the microphone. Check the call’s microphone button, then Input in Sound settings, then Privacy & Security › Microphone.

How do I test my Mac’s microphone?

Open System Settings › Sound and click Input (on macOS 12, System Preferences › Sound › Input). Choose the microphone and speak: the Input level bars should move as you talk.

Why does the sound on my Mac crackle?

If it crackles in every app, the part of macOS that plays sound may be stuck: restart your Mac. If it only happens in one app or on one website, quit and reopen that app. If your Mac’s own speakers still crackle after a restart, have them checked.