How to change the volume for each app separately on Android
This one-time setup takes only a few minutes and gives you perfect control over your phone's volume.
How to change the volume for each app separately on Android
[Illustration of an Android interface showing three separate volume sliders with different app icons, topped with a green Android mascot wearing headphones.]
Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek
Faisal Rasool
Mar 1, 2026, 12:15 PM EST
Faisal Rasool has been a feature writer at How-to Geek since early 2024. He brings five years of professional experience in simplifying technology for his readers on topics like mobile devices, PCs, and online privacy. He tries to help people get the most out of their gadgets and software with the least effort.
In his teenage years, he spent hours every day tinkering with Android phones and Linux builds. Faisal started his career at WhatMobile in 2019 (mostly out of his obsession with Android) where he published over 2,000 news stories. Currently, he contributes to the news section over at AndroidHeadlines.
He also authored more than 100 feature articles for SlashGear, covering Android, iOS, Web, Chromebooks, online privacy/security, and PC content.
Faisal is also pursuing a Bachelor's in English literature to build up his writing chops. He enjoys watercolors, classic video games, animated films, and conversations with strangers.
Android has matured a lot since its early days, but there are some features that I keep wishing would be included already. One of those features is the ability to set a different volume for each app. I have found an excellent workaround to get this feature.
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Shopping list
We'll be using two apps to make this work. “Shizuku” is a free and open-source app that allows you to gain a few system-level privileges (that are otherwise unavailable unless you root your device). You can set it up once and use it to give access to the “Volume Manager” app. Volume Manager lets you adjust each app's volume separately using the slider keys (just like you would normally).
[Volume Manager in action.]
Your phone should be at least on Android version 13 for this to work. The app doesn't support older versions of Android. You can check the Android version of your device by going to Settings > About Phone.
Volume Manager isn't the only app Shizuku supports. There's a whole library of Shizuku-powered utilities. For example, you could debloat your Android device without a PC using Canta.
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Setting up Shizuku
Before we install Volume Manager and Shizuku, we need to enable a feature called "wireless debugging." Technically, it's meant for developers to wirelessly connect Android devices to their PCs for testing purposes. This pairing gives them elevated privileges. Shizuku uses the same wireless debugging to get the same elevated access without a PC connection.
To activate Shizuku, you have to be connected to Wi-Fi. It won't work on data. However, you only need Wi-Fi to set up and enable Shizuku. Once you've used Shizuku to grant the necessary permissions to Volume Manager, the Volume Manager will work just fine on data and offline too.
Open the device settings and scroll down to "About Phone." Tap it and look for the "Build Number." Tap "Build Number" 7 times until you see the "You are now a developer!" toast message.
[The step-by-step process of enabling developer options.]
Go back to the settings page, where a new "Developer Options" setting should have appeared. We're now ready to enable wireless debugging.
Go to Settings > System > Developer Options and scroll down to "Wireless Debugging." Enable it and select "Always allow on this network," when prompted.
We're now ready to install and set up Shizuku. You can install it from the Google Play Store or grab the APK file from GitHub. Open the app and tap "Pairing." A notification labeled "Searching for a pairing service" should appear right away.
You might be prompted to grant Shizuku notification access. Tap the prompt and then enable "Allow Notifications."
Go back to Settings > System > Developer Options. Tap "Wireless Debugging" to open the menu (be sure to tap the text, not the toggle). Then tap "Pair device with pairing code."
A six-digit Wi-Fi pairing code should appear in a pop-up. Swipe down the notification shade and tap "Stop searching." You'll get a new notification that says "Pairing service found." Tap the "Enter pairing code" button on this notification alert and type in the Wi-Fi pairing code that appeared in the pop-up.
Shizuku should now appear in the list of paired devices.
Let's activate Shizuku. Open the app and tap the "Start" button. A pop-up window should appear briefly and then close. If everything goes well, you'll see a "Shizuku is running" message at the top.
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Get the Volume Manager app
Volume Manager is a free and open-source app, but it's not available on the Google Play Store. You can either download it from its GitHub repo or use F-Droid to install it (you'll need to add the IzzyonAndroid repo to F-Droid to fetch the app, though). The easiest method is to use the GitHub page.
Open the GitHub repo in your browser and scroll down to the "Releases" section. Tap it, and you should see an APK package under the "Assets" tab. Download it. Here you'll also see the source code for the app, which anyone can download to audit the app and compile it on their computer.
[Downloading Volume Manager from GitHub.]
Install Volume Manager on your device using the APK file and open the app. You'll see an "Add Permission" button on the app's home page. Tap it and select "Allow all the time."
Volume Manager will now take over the native Android volume interface. You can pull it up by clicking the volume buttons or opening the Volume Manager app.
[Volume Manager interface in action.]
You can use it to change the volume of Android system sounds (for example, the screenshot sound effect) or notifications. As you open more apps that support audio or video playback, they'll show up in the volume manager. You can use the sliders next to the app's name and icon to change its volume.
I doubt Google is adding this feature to native Android any time soon. I always found it annoying that I couldn't permanently set the volume of games separately from, say, YouTube. This Shizuku setup makes it super simple.
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