Annoying Audio Playing in Safari? Here’s How to Find and Mute Noisy Safari Tabs

Is there anything more annoying than a noisy ad hidden in one of your tabs? Well, Safari makes it easy to track down and mute annoying sounds.

Opening multiple tabs is a handy feature in browsers like Safari, allowing you to view multiple webpages in a single window. This provides for a smoother web browsing experience and helps reduce desktop clutter. However, unwanted audio may suddenly begin playing from one of the tabs, disrupting your workflow with the current tab you’re on.

This may make you manually check each tab to look for the culprit. But there are several ways to efficiently manage audio in Safari tabs without the need to check them one by one.

How to Know If Which Safari Tab Is Playing Audio

It can be downright frustrating to go to each tab one by one just to find that single tab playing audio. In the past, you even needed to scroll down through the webpage to find the random ad or video that automatically played. However, browsers now make it easier for you to know if the current tab you’re viewing is playing audio or not.

Related: How to Quickly Access Sites in Safari on a Mac Using Pinned Tab

In Safari, simply look for the Audio button in the Smart Search field. If the icon is in solid blue with sound waves, then the current tab is playing audio. Otherwise, the audio button will appear gray with no sound waves.

To check other tabs, look for an audio icon in the tab bar to see which ones are playing audio.

How to Mute Tab Audio

There are several ways to mute tabs playing audio in Safari.

Mute Audio From the Current Tab

If the audio is on the tab you’re currently viewing, simply click the Audio button. You should see Mute This Tab on the Smart Search field as you hover your mouse over the Audio button. Just click the button again to unmute it.

Mute Audio From Other Tabs

If audio is playing simultaneously from different tabs, and you want to mute all the other audio except the audio from the tab you’re currently viewing, simply Option-click the Audio button in the Smart Search field from your current tab. A Mute Other Tabs message should appear in the Smart Search field. Alternatively, you can Control-click the Audio button, then click Mute Other Tabs.

On the other hand, if you’re on a tab that is not playing audio, and you want to mute audio from other tabs, simply click the Audio button to automatically mute the audio from all other tabs.

Manually Mute Audio From Tabs

You also have the option to manually mute audio from each tab. If a tab is playing audio, an Audio button should appear on the right side of that tab. Just click this button to mute the tab manually. You can also Control-click the Audio button and select Mute This Tab.

How to See Websites Currently Playing Audio

If you have multiple tabs opened and you want to see the tabs that are currently playing audio, go to the Smart Search field, then click and hold the Audio button. A popup menu will appear, listing the websites that are playing audio. Click one of these websites to go to the tab where audio is currently playing.

Aside from the list, the popup menu will also give you other options, like Mute Other Tabs and Mute This Tab, if the tab you’re on is playing audio. You can also choose Enter Picture in Picture if the audio playing is from a video.

Quickly Mute Unwanted Sound

Opening multiple tabs is a great way to manage our online workflows better, reduce desktop clutter, and keep important websites within reach. However, a common cause of annoyance with having multiple tabs open is when audio automatically plays from a particular tab.

With Safari, you can easily find, manage, and mute audio from your tabs. You can even manually mute them or mute all of them with just one click.

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