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Information for: Airfoil for MacAudio HijackSoundSource

Solving issues with SoundSource’s icon not showing in the menu bar

Unlike more traditional Dock-based applications, SoundSource lives exclusively in your menu bar. If you unexpectedly find that SoundSource displays its main window in the center of the screen, unpinned and with no menu bar icon visible, you likely need to adjust a system-level permission setting.

MacOS’s Allow in the Menu Bar permission

In MacOS 26 (Tahoe) and higher, an Allow in the Menu Bar setting can be found in the Menu Bar section of System Settings. If this setting is disabled, SoundSource will be unable to display its icon in the menu bar.

The most common way this permission is switched off unintentionally is dragging SoundSource’s icon out of the menu bar. When an icon is dragged out of the menu bar, MacOS automatically disables the Allow in the Menu Bar permission for that app.

Allow SoundSource to display in the Menu Bar

Follow these steps to allow SoundSource to display its icon in the Menu Bar.

1. Open the System Settings application from the Apple () menu.
2. Click on the Menu Bar section in the sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Allow in the Menu Bar sub-section.
4. Find SoundSource in the list.
5. Toggle the switch for Allow in Menu Bar to the On position.

With this setting enabled, SoundSource’s menu bar icon should now appear in the menu bar.

A Note About Crowded Menu Bars

Running a large number of menu bar applications may result in some menu bar icons being pushed off screen. When this occurs, you may find that SoundSource is running, but does not appear to be unavailable in the menu bar.

If quitting or removing other menu bar apps to clear space is not an option, you can hold down the Command key on your keyboard, then click and drag a menu bar app icon through the menu bar. This will reveal icons that are hidden off screen and enable changing their display order.