How to Mute Tabs in Safari

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Don't let noisy tabs get you down. If unwanted audio starts playing in one of your tabs, you can quickly mute it in Safari. The steps below will help you mute all the tabs at once or individual tabs in Safari for Mac.

Apple introduced easy tab muting in Safari with OS X El Capitan. Tabs that have audio playing will show a sound icon on the tab so you can easily identify them and mute them if you wish.

How to Mute All Tabs in Safari

This trick comes in handy if you want to instantly silence all of the tabs in Safari and prevent auto-playing audio (for example, from annoying video ads).

1. Open a new tab that doesn't have any sound playing.
2. Click the sound icon in the address bar. Alternately, you can long press on the sound icon and choose "Mute All Tabs."

The other tabs will all stop playing audio.

To unmute the tabs, click the sound icon again in the tab that doesn't have sound.

How to Mute All Tabs Except Your Current One

If you're watching a video or listening to music in one tab but audio starts playing in one or more other tabs, you quickly can mute all other tabs.

1. Long press on the sound icon in the address bar.
2. Select "Mute Other Tabs."

Your current tab will keep playing audio while the others will be silenced. Click the sound icon again to unmute the other tabs.

How to Mute a Tab in Safari

There are two ways to mute an individual tab in Safari:

  • Click the sound icon in the address bar
    or
  • Right-click on the tab and select "Mute Tab."

The latter lets you quickly mute tabs without having to switch to them.

Safari Browser Tips

Melanie Pinola