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Is BlackHole safe for a Mac?

Tested on macOS 26.4.1 (Tahoe), Apple M3 Max, 3 Sept 2026. Updated 2026-09-03.

Yes, by the usual measures. BlackHole is an open-source virtual audio loopback driver from Existential Audio, licensed GPL-3.0, with its full source on GitHub and a current release (v0.7.1, 3 July 2026). It installs as a user-space Core Audio plug-in in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL, not as a kernel extension, and needs no change to your Mac's security settings. Its real cost is configuration, not risk.

Is BlackHole safe to install on a Mac?

Three facts you can check yourself decide the question:

The wiki's installation page says to right-click the package and choose Open, then restart when prompted. If you prefer not to run an installer at all, Homebrew installs the same driver: brew install blackhole-2ch.

What does BlackHole change on your Mac?

Less than people fear, but more than nothing. Checked on macOS 26.4.1:

  1. It adds one folder, BlackHole2ch.driver (or 16ch, 64ch), to /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL. That is the whole driver.
  2. It leaves a package receipt with the identifier audio.existential.BlackHole2ch, visible with pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i blackhole. On the author's Mac that receipt is still present although the driver folder was removed by hand years ago, which is harmless but confusing.
  3. It asks you to restart, because coreaudiod loads plug-ins at start. Until then the device does not exist.
  4. After the restart a new device, "BlackHole 2ch", appears in Audio MIDI Setup, in System Settings > Sound under both Input and Output, and in every app's device list.

What it does not change on its own: your default input and output stay as they were. BlackHole only takes over your sound when you select it, and the most common complaint (speakers go silent) comes from selecting it as the output without a Multi-Output Device. It does not run a background app and does not add a menu bar item; the driver is one plug-in folder hosted by coreaudiod, with no separate process of its own.

Does BlackHole record or listen to your audio?

No. BlackHole is a pipe, not a recorder. Audio sent to its output side reappears on its input side and goes nowhere else. Nothing is written to disk and nothing is transmitted. The README's one-line description is the whole design: a virtual audio loopback driver that allows applications to pass audio to other applications with zero additional latency.

The privacy question worth asking is a different one: which apps can read BlackHole's input? Any app that has Microphone permission can open any input device, and BlackHole is an input device. So an app you granted microphone access to could, in principle, listen to whatever you route through BlackHole. That is the same permission model as a physical mic; the driver adds no new hole, but it does add a new device those apps can see. Apple's System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone list is the place to review it, and the README's own FAQ points recorders at that permission when BlackHole appears but no audio comes through.

ScreenCaptureKit-based recorders take a different permission (Screen & System Audio Recording) and do not need a device at all, so nothing is left in the input list afterwards.

What are the real risks with BlackHole?

None of them are security risks. All of them are workflow risks that cost people recordings:

Weigh those against the benefit. For routing audio between apps, BlackHole is free, fast and the standard choice. For simply recording what you hear, it is more setup than the job needs.

Do you need BlackHole to record internal audio on a Mac?

Not since macOS 13. Apple's ScreenCaptureKit captures the audio that goes with screen content, as Apple put it at WWDC22, and recorders built on it read system audio directly without a device in the middle. "How to record internal audio on Mac without BlackHole" is one of the real queries behind this page, and the answer is a one-time Screen Recording permission plus any recorder that uses the API: OBS Studio (free, writes video files), or an audio-only recorder such as AirCheck.

You still need BlackHole when audio must travel between two apps live, for example a DAW's master into OBS, a browser into Ableton, or a virtual microphone for a call. The virtual audio driver guide lists the three cases where a driver is the right tool and the three where it is not.

BlackHole is a modern macOS virtual audio loopback driver that allows applications to pass audio to other applications with zero additional latency.

Existential Audio, BlackHole README

Loopback drivers and driverless capture on a Mac, safety and upkeep (3 Sept 2026)

OptionPriceKernel extensionSource publicApple siliconLatest releaseNeeds Multi-Output to hear playback
Soundflower (Matt Ingalls)free, MITyes (.kext)yesnot supported (repo says DEPRECATED)2.0b2yes
BlackHole (Existential Audio)free, GPL-3.0noyesyesv0.7.1, 3 July 2026yes
Loopback 2 (Rogue Amoeba)$99nonoyes (macOS 14.5 to 27)2.5.0no (monitor built in)
ScreenCaptureKit recorder (AirCheck)$39nonoyes (macOS 14 or newer)n/ano

Release data from GitHub on 3 Sept 2026. Loopback requirements and price from rogueamoeba.com the same day.

Where AirCheck fits

If the reason you looked up BlackHole is recording what your Mac plays, AirCheck ($39, macOS 14 or newer) does that without installing any driver: it uses ScreenCaptureKit, asks once for Screen Recording permission, and leaves Audio MIDI Setup and your output device exactly as they were. Recordings are 24-bit at the device rate, exported to WAV or MP3, with a watchdog that restarts capture into the same file if the stream stalls for 5 seconds. Nothing to uninstall later.

When you do not need it: AirCheck records; it cannot route audio from one app into another live. That routing job is what a virtual driver such as BlackHole exists for.

AirCheck records what your Mac plays, or any input, to one file. $39 once.

Buy AirCheck for $39

macOS 14 or newer. One-off payment. Fourteen-day refund, no questions asked.

Questions people ask

Is BlackHole audio driver safe for Mac?

Yes. It is open source under GPL-3.0, installs as a user-space Core Audio plug-in rather than a kernel extension, does not run in the background, and does not transmit audio. Its risks are configuration mistakes such as silent speakers, not security.

Is BlackHole a virus or malware?

No. The full source is public on GitHub, the project has a maintained release history (v0.7.1 in July 2026), and it installs a single driver folder in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL. Download it from existential.audio or install it with Homebrew, not from third-party download sites.

Does BlackHole slow down my Mac?

It adds no background process; coreaudiod hosts it only while an app uses the device. The README describes zero additional driver latency. Any CPU cost comes from the recording app and from Drift Correction resampling in a Multi-Output or aggregate device.

How do I completely remove BlackHole?

Delete BlackHole2ch.driver from /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL, run sudo killall -9 coreaudiod, and forget the receipt with pkgutil. The full command sequence is in the uninstall guide on this site.

Sources

Hannes Hennerbichler builds AirCheck and records his own DJ sets with it through a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6. Every step on this page was run on the macOS version stated above. Drafted with AI assistance, checked and edited by the author. About