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How to Mute and Unmute Audio in Safari Tabs

Sound speaker icon on top of a safari icon

If you’re having problems with sound on some web pages when using macOS’s Safari (or simply don’t want to hear audio on a particular web page) the web browser lets you mute audio in any open tabs.

If you’re viewing a tab that’s not playing audio, there’s no Audio button in the Smart Search field is white with a blue outline. If the tab is playing audio, the Audio button is solid blue.

Screenshot of youtube showing safari tabs for muting

To mute audio in the tab you’re viewing, click the Audio button  in the Smart Search field. The blue button will turn white (well, white-ish) with a line drawn through it.

Screenshot of youtube showing safari tabs for muting

If you’re viewing several websites that are playing audio, Option-click the Audio button  in the Smart Search field to let audio play in the tab you’re currently viewing and mute the audio in other tabs.

If you’re viewing a website that’s not playing audio and other tabs are playing audio, click the Audio button in the Smart Search field to quickly mute all audio in other tabs. 

To mute any tab, lick the Audio button on the right side of the tab in the tab bar.

To see websites playing audio, click and hold the Audio button in the Smart Search field.

Screenshot of youtube showing safari tabs for muting

You can choose a website to go to the tab where the audio is playing. If you’re viewing a website that’s not playing audio, the list of open websites also includes the Mute All Tabs option. If it is playing audio, it includes the Mute This Tab or Mute Other Tabs option.

To unmute audio, click the muted Audio button in the Smart Search field, or on the right side of the tab in the tab bar.

(By the way, I tested this on macOS Catalina. There could be slight differences in other versions of the operating system.)

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Contributing Author
Dennis has over 40 years of journalism experience and has written hundreds of articles. For the past 20-plus years, he's been an online journalist, covering mainly Apple Inc. He's written for MacCentral, MacWorld, MacMinute, Macsimum News, Apple Daily Report, and is now contributing editor at Apple World Today.
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