MuteTab

Name: MuteTab
Rating: 4.129032258064516 (93 reviews)
Author: http://www.mutetab.com/

Take control of noisy tabs: mute by default, blacklists, and more

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MuteTab is a powerful Chrome extension designed to help users take control of noisy browser tabs. Introduced originally in 2011 and continually updated, its latest features include muting tabs by default, managing blacklists and whitelists, and convenient keyboard shortcuts. It highlights only tabs playing or recently playing sound, making it easier to identify and control audio sources across multiple windows. You can mute all tabs, background tabs, or incognito tabs automatically, with options to exclude your preferred music players via a "music list." Privacy mode instantly silences all tabs, allowing selective unmuting, ideal for focused browsing. Additionally, an experimental music ducking feature intelligently lowers music volume when videos play. MuteTab offers an intuitive way to regain peace and silence online, especially for users juggling numerous tabs or media sources at once.

Extension Productivity Utilities Privacy & Security

By:

http://www.mutetab.com/

Users:

20,000

Rating:

4.13

(93)

Version:

3.0.12 Last updated: 2023-06-26

Creation date:

2019-08-05

Risk:

Permissions:

tabs
storage
contextMenus

Size:

709.00KB

Email:

mu*****@gmail.com

URLs:

Website

Full description:

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Updated:

15 hours ago

Ranking

# 5,508 ▲ 144

Other rankings

#3035 in Workflow & Planning ▼ 4

#78 in prevent keyword 28 ▼ 1

#97 in include keyword 12 ▼ 1

#188 in permission keyword 11 ▲ 1

#194 in release keyword 38 ▼ 1

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User reviews

Pros

Effectively mutes background tabs or all tabs by default.
Provides a 'music ducking' feature that automatically mutes other audio while videos play, solving user annoyances.
Simple and easy to use with one-click or keyboard shortcuts to mute tabs.
Helps identify noisy tabs and manage tab audio easily.
Supports muting in incognito mode when enabled.

Cons

Unmuting muted tabs can be clumsy and unintuitive, requiring use of the extension's toolbar icon rather than standard tab controls.
The extension sometimes mutes the active tab without easy settings to prevent this, leading users to manually unmute or whitelist sites.
There are issues with keyboard shortcut settings being outdated or not visible in certain Chrome versions.
Lack of a one-click mute/unmute toggle on the toolbar icon makes muting controls less convenient.
Some users report the extension not automatically unmuting previously muted tabs when switched back to, reducing ease of use.

Recent reviews

Love this app. If anyone has any recommended alternatives for when this no longer works, let me know.

Se*****, 2025-03-21

It needs to be updated (-__-) I still use this and it works perfectly the way it is. Otherwise chrome keeps turning it off... Such an annoying and demanding browser... (-__-)

Da*****, 2024-12-20

Works like a charm!

Ne*****, 2024-10-20

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

MuteTab requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Chrome extension may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Chrome extension reputation on Chrome Web Store, the amount of time the Chrome extension has been around, and other signals about the Chrome extension. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Chrome extension.

MuteTab has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
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