Soundflower Not Working on Mac? Here Are the 3 Best Replacements in 2026

If you’re trying to install Soundflower on a modern Mac, it won’t work. It hasn’t worked reliably since macOS Catalina, and on Apple Silicon Macs it simply doesn’t run. The app stopped receiving updates around 2014, and Apple’s security requirements have made its underlying approach to audio drivers obsolete.

The good news: there are better options available now, and they’re not hard to set up. This guide covers why Soundflower broke, how to check if it’s still lurking on your system, and the three alternatives worth using in 2026 with macOS 26 Tahoe.

Why Soundflower Stopped Working

Soundflower was a free virtual audio cable for macOS, originally developed by Cycling ‘74 and later open-sourced. For years it was the standard tool for routing audio between apps on Mac.

The problems started accumulating after Cycling ‘74 abandoned active development around 2014. By the time macOS Catalina shipped in 2019, Soundflower was effectively dead for most users. Here’s what killed it:

Unsigned kernel extension. Soundflower installed its virtual audio driver using a kernel extension (kext). Starting with Catalina, Apple began blocking unsigned kernel extensions by default as part of System Integrity Protection (SIP). Soundflower’s kext was never updated to meet Apple’s notarization requirements, so macOS rejects it.

No Apple Silicon support. Soundflower was never rebuilt for M1, M2, M3, or M4 chips. On Apple Silicon Macs, it doesn’t run at all.

No maintenance. There are no official bug fixes, no security patches, and no compatibility updates for new macOS releases. Every macOS version that ships makes Soundflower less likely to work.

If you’re on an older Intel Mac still running High Sierra or Mojave, you might get Soundflower working with some effort. On any Mac running Catalina or later, including anything running macOS 26 Tahoe, it’s time to move on.

How to Tell If Soundflower Is Still Installed

Some Macs have a broken Soundflower installation that causes audio problems even though the app isn’t actively being used. If your Mac’s audio is behaving strangely, it’s worth checking.

Open Terminal and run:

ls /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/

If you see Soundflower.driver in the output, Soundflower is still installed. To check whether it’s actually loading, run:

system_profiler SPAudioDataType

Look through the output for any mention of Soundflower. If it appears as an audio device, the kext loaded successfully (unusual on modern macOS). More often you’ll see no Soundflower entry, meaning the driver is present on disk but macOS is ignoring it.

To remove it, look for an official uninstaller in /Library/Application Support/Soundflower/. If there isn’t one, delete the driver manually:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/Soundflower.driver

Restart your Mac. If your audio was behaving oddly, this often clears it up.

The 3 Best Soundflower Alternatives

1. BlackHole (Free)

BlackHole is the direct spiritual successor to Soundflower: open source, free, and built using Apple’s current audio driver APIs. It installs a properly notarized virtual audio driver, so it doesn’t get blocked by SIP. It works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

BlackHole creates virtual audio channels that apps can send and receive audio from. It comes in 2-channel and 16-channel variants. Choosing the 2-channel version is fine for most use cases.

The catch is that BlackHole gives you raw audio plumbing without any routing logic built in. To get system audio into a recording or calling app, you need to set up a Multi-Output Device in macOS’s Audio MIDI Setup utility. Here’s what that involves:

1. Open Audio MIDI Setup (search for it in Spotlight).
2. Click the “+” button at the bottom left and choose “Create Multi-Output Device.”
3. Check the boxes for both your normal speakers (or headphones) and “BlackHole 2ch.”
4. Set sample rates to match on both devices (usually 48000 Hz).
5. Right-click the Multi-Output Device and set it as your system output.
6. In your recording or streaming app, set BlackHole 2ch as the audio input source.

This works, but it takes 20-40 minutes the first time through. There’s also a known side effect: once you switch your system output to the Multi-Output Device, your keyboard volume keys stop working, because macOS only shows volume controls for physical hardware outputs. You can adjust volume through System Settings instead, but it’s annoying.

For users comfortable with macOS audio internals, BlackHole is excellent. See our full guide to BlackHole for more detail.

Price: Free Setup time: 20-40 minutes

2. Soundshine ($7.99 one-time)

Soundshine is a lightweight macOS menu bar app (about 5 MB) that handles audio routing automatically. It installs a virtual audio driver via a guided setup wizard and creates a “Soundshine Microphone” input that carries your Mac’s system audio. Any app that accepts a microphone input, including Zoom, Google Meet, Discord, FaceTime, QuickTime, OBS, and Audacity, can use it as an audio source.

Unlike BlackHole, Soundshine doesn’t require you to create Multi-Output Devices or open Audio MIDI Setup. The wizard handles driver installation, and after that the workflow is: flip a switch in the menu bar, select “Soundshine Microphone” in your app, done. Audio passes through to your speakers so you can still hear it. Your volume keys keep working normally.

Audio quality is 48kHz, 32-bit float stereo. A free trial is available with an audio watermark, so you can verify it works for your setup before buying.

For recording system audio to a file, Soundshine pairs directly with screen recording tools on Mac as well as dedicated apps like QuickTime and Audacity.

Price: $7.99 one-time (free trial available) Setup time: 30 seconds

3. Loopback ($99 one-time)

Loopback by Rogue Amoeba is the professional option. It lets you build a visual routing graph connecting specific apps to specific virtual audio outputs, with independent controls for each source. You can route Spotify to one virtual device, your browser to another, and your microphone to a third, all simultaneously.

If you’re running a professional streaming or podcast production setup with multiple audio sources that need to go to different destinations independently, Loopback is worth the price. For simple audio sharing or recording, it’s significantly more than you need.

See our comparison of Loopback alternatives for a detailed breakdown.

Price: $99 one-time Setup time: Moderate (node-based routing interface)

Which Soundflower Replacement Is Right for You?

Use case	Best choice
Share audio in Zoom, Meet, or Discord	Soundshine
Record system audio in QuickTime	Soundshine
Route audio to OBS for streaming	Soundshine or BlackHole
Complex multi-app routing	BlackHole or Loopback
Professional broadcast or podcast production	Loopback
Budget is $0	BlackHole

How to Switch From Soundflower to Soundshine

If you’ve been struggling to get Soundflower working and want something that just works:

1. Remove Soundflower using the steps in the section above. Restart your Mac.
2. Download Soundshine from soundshine.app and open the DMG.
3. Drag Soundshine to your Applications folder and launch it.
4. Follow the setup wizard to install the virtual audio driver. Takes about 30 seconds, requires your admin password.
5. Click the menu bar icon and flip the routing switch to on.
6. In your app (Zoom, QuickTime, OBS, Discord), select “Soundshine Microphone” as the audio input.

No Audio MIDI Setup, no Multi-Output Device configuration, no volume key workarounds.

Related guides:

• BlackHole Audio Mac: What It Is and When to Use a Simpler Alternative
• What Is a Virtual Audio Cable? (Mac Guide)
• How to Share System Audio in Zoom on Mac
• How to Screen Record With Audio on Mac