> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tuple.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sharing system audio

<View title="macOS" icon="apple">
  If you've [enabled the setting](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-screen-share#share-system-audio-when-using-headphones), Tuple sends the audio playing on your Mac to the other participants while you're sharing your screen. They hear the video, the demo, or the alert sound you're hearing, mixed in with your voice. Tuple **only sends system audio while your Mac is playing it through headphones**.

  ## Turning it on during a call

  While you're sharing your screen, you can turn system audio on or off from **Share System Audio** in the screen share menu in the call controls. This changes the same setting as the one in [Screen share preferences](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-screen-share#share-system-audio-when-using-headphones), so your choice carries over to later calls.

  The menu item shows a checkmark while Tuple is sending system audio. If the setting is on but Tuple isn't sending system audio because you aren't using headphones, the menu item shows a dash and a warning badge.

  If you turn it on while you aren't using headphones, Tuple shows a **Use headphones to share system audio** alert. Tuple starts sending system audio as soon as you switch to headphones, and the alert closes on its own.

  ## Why it needs headphones

  On speakers, the audio your Mac plays feeds back into your microphone. The other participants would hear it twice, slightly out of step, and your voice would be harder to make out over it.

  With headphones, that audio never reaches your microphone, so Tuple can send it cleanly.

  ## What counts as headphones

  Tuple looks at your Mac's OS sound output (the device selected under **Sound** > **Output** in System Settings), *not* the output device you chose in Tuple's [Audio preferences](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-audio). Other apps play through your Mac's sound output, so that's the device that decides whether your microphone can hear them.

  It treats these as headphones:

  * A device that identifies itself as headphones or a headset, such as a USB headset.
  * Any Bluetooth device, such as AirPods.
  * Anything plugged into the headphone jack.

  Everything else counts as speakers, including your Mac's built-in speakers, a display's speakers, and audio interfaces or docks.

  Tuple follows the device as it changes. If you switch from headphones to speakers during a call, Tuple stops sending system audio. When you switch back, it starts again.

  ## What gets shared

  * Audio from the apps on your Mac, while you're sharing your screen.
  * Nothing from apps hidden by [App Veil](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-app-veil).
  * Nothing from the call itself. Participants don't hear themselves played back.

  While you're speaking, Tuple mixes the system audio in at a lower level for the other participants, so your voice stays in front. What you hear on your Mac doesn't change.

  Participants who are [capturing the call](/pairing-with-tuple/capturing-calls) transcribe the audio they receive from you, and that includes your system audio. If your Mac plays speech, such as a video, it can show up in their transcript as something you said. If you capture the call yourself, your own lines come from your microphone only.

  ## If participants can't hear your system audio

  Check each of these:

  1. **Share system audio when using headphones** is on, in [Screen share preferences](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-screen-share#share-system-audio-when-using-headphones). During a call, **Share System Audio** in the screen share menu shows a checkmark when Tuple is sending system audio.
  2. You're sharing your screen. Tuple doesn't send system audio on a call without a screen share.
  3. Your Mac's sound output is headphones, under **Sound** > **Output** in System Settings.
  4. The app playing the audio isn't hidden by [App Veil](/application-preferences/macos-preferences-app-veil).
</View>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.