Guide · Slack · Mac
How to play music in a Slack huddle on a Mac
Share your screen with Share system audio turned on, and the huddle hears your Mac. If you’d rather have music quietly under your voice, without sharing anything, put it in your microphone. Both take a minute.
The quick fix
- In the huddle, click the share screen button, pick what to share, and turn on Share system audio.
- If your Mac keeps asking for screen recording access, reset Slack’s permission once. The fix is below.
- For music under your voice, with no sharing, put it in your microphone and turn off Slack’s noise suppression.
If Slack keeps asking for permission
Your Mac has to let Slack record the screen and its sound. Sometimes Slack asks again every time you share, even after you said yes. Slack’s fix:
- Quit Slack.
- Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording.
- Select Slack and remove it with the minus button.
- Open Slack, share again, and allow it when your Mac asks.
Still no sound? Our no sound when screen sharing guide covers the other causes.
Play music without sharing your screen
A huddle hears one microphone. Put the music in it, along with your voice, and everyone hears both, at the levels you choose, with nothing on screen.
Patch, which we make, does this on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. It mixes your mic and up to four apps into one microphone called Patch Mix.
- Add your microphone and the music to Patch. Open Patch, add your microphone, then add the app that plays the music: Spotify, Music, a browser or a video player.
- Set the music under your voice. Turn on Send for both, and pull the music’s slider down until it sits under your voice. Turn on Hear locally so you hear it too.
- Choose Patch Mix in Slack. In Slack, open Preferences, then Audio & video. Choose Patch Mix as the microphone and your headphones as the speaker.
- Turn off noise suppression. In the same place, untick Enable noise suppression, so Slack doesn’t remove the music.
- Go live. Click Go live in Patch, then start or join the huddle. Everyone hears your voice with the music underneath.
Wear headphones, so your real microphone doesn’t hear the music a second time. Always choose your headphones as the speaker in Slack, never Patch Pass-Thru.
Stop Slack cutting the music
Slack’s noise suppression is made to remove sounds that aren’t your voice, and music is one of them. In Preferences › Audio & video, untick Enable noise suppression while you play music through your mic. Tick it again afterwards if you like it for normal calls.
If your Mac’s Control Center shows Mic Mode during a huddle, choose Standard. Voice Isolation removes music too.
Questions
Why can’t people hear my video in a Slack huddle?
Share system audio was probably off. Stop sharing, click the share screen button again, and turn it on before you share. It’s only in the Slack desktop app, not in a browser.
Why does Slack keep asking for screen recording access?
It’s a known Mac problem. Slack suggests removing Slack from System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, then adding it back when Slack asks. You may need to restart Slack.
Can I play music in a huddle without sharing my screen?
Slack’s own way to send sound is the screen share. Without sharing, the music has to go into your microphone, with a virtual mic such as Patch.
What about the huddle music Slack plays?
Slack plays music while you’re the only one in a huddle, as a waiting room. It stops when someone joins, so it isn’t a way to play music to other people.
How many people can hear it?
As many as the huddle holds. Slack’s help says huddles on the free plan are for two people, and paid plans allow up to 50.