How to
Move Apps Between Devices
Send each app to a different speaker or headset and keep system sound where it is.
Most desktops have more than one way to make noise: speakers, a headset, a monitor with its own output, maybe a USB interface. Windows lets you pick a default for everything — and, separately, an output device for each individual app.
Why you would want this
- Voice chat in the headset, game audio through the speakers.
- Music on the desk speakers while a video call stays private.
- Notifications on the built-in laptop speaker so they still reach you when the headphones come off.
- A recording or streaming app fed by one device while you monitor on another.
The built-in route
On Windows 11: Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer, then use the output picker next to the app. On Windows 10: Settings → System → Sound → App volume and device preferences. The setting is remembered per app.
The tray route
A third-party mixer puts the same control in the flyout: click the device name on an app's row and pick another output. The app moves; everything else stays where it was. Changing the system default device is in the same panel, so switching everything at once — speakers to headset when you sit down — is one click rather than a settings trip.
Some applications only read the output device when they start. If moving an app produces silence, or nothing at all happens, restart the app after moving it. This is an application limitation, not a mixer bug.
Keeping it stable
Two habits prevent most confusion. First, name your devices something you recognise — "Desk speakers", not "Speakers (2- High Definition Audio)". Second, remember that unplugging a USB device and plugging it back into a different port can register it as a new device, at which point per-app assignments pointing at the old one quietly fall back to the default. If routing suddenly resets after a reboot, that is usually why.
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