Why is your Mac microphone not working, and how do you fix it?

Two minutes into a Zoom call, three faces lean toward their cameras and someone types "you're on mute" into the chat. You are not on mute. The mute button is white, the call is connected, your headphones play their voices fine. Your Mac simply is not sending anything, and you are now troubleshooting in front of an audience.

When a Mac microphone is not working, the fault can sit in any of five places between your mouth and the other person: the hardware, macOS's input selection, macOS's privacy permission, the app's own microphone choice, and sometimes the browser in between. Each layer can fail on its own, and from your side of the call most of those failures look identical: silence. The fastest fix is not to try everything. It is to find out which layer is broken, and that takes about a minute.

Which kind of "not working" do you have?

Start by matching what you see to a likely layer. This table is the whole article in compressed form; the sections below explain each row.

That last row matters more than it looks. Plenty of people search "MacBook microphone not working" when the mic technically works and the complaint is about how it sounds. If your level meter moves and people can hear you, just badly, skip to the section near the end. And if your mic works fine and you only want to adjust levels or modes, How do you change microphone settings on a Mac? is the page you want instead of this one.

The one-minute test that splits the problem in half

Open Apple menu > System Settings > Sound, then click Input. You will see a list of every input device macOS currently knows about: the built-in mic (listed with your Mac's model name), any USB or Bluetooth mic, AirPods, and possibly your iPhone, which macOS can offer as a microphone through Continuity Camera.

Select the mic you want and talk at normal volume. Next to Input level, the meter should move with your voice.

• The meter moves. The hardware and macOS are fine. Your problem lives in a permission or in an app. Go to the next two sections.
• The meter does not move. Check the Input volume slider directly under it. If it sits all the way left, that is your fix. If it is up and the meter is still flat, the problem is the device itself or how it is connected. Go to the sections on the internal mic, Bluetooth or external mics.
• Your mic is not in the list at all. macOS does not see it. That is a cable, port, power or driver problem, not a settings problem.

A second check takes about a minute and removes all doubt. Open QuickTime Player, choose File > New Audio Recording, pick your mic in the options menu next to the record button, record ten seconds, and play it back. QuickTime is Apple's own app, and there is no account, no call server and no network between your mic and the file it writes. If your voice is on that recording, the Mac can hear you, full stop.

Step 1: macOS is blocking the app (Privacy & Security)

Every app has to ask before it touches the microphone. The first time an app wants it, macOS shows a dialog with Allow and Don't Allow. Click "Don't Allow" once, by accident, in the middle of joining a meeting, and macOS remembers that answer: the app stays deaf until you change it by hand.

To check, go to Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Microphone, and find your app in the list. Turn its switch on. Most apps need to be quit and reopened before the change reaches them; Microsoft's own instructions for Teams on a Mac say to close all apps and restart after changing the permission.

Two traps live here.

The app is not in the list. macOS only lists apps that have asked. If the app crashed before asking, or its permission record got confused after an update, you can make every app ask again with a Terminal command that Apple Community volunteers commonly suggest:

tccutil reset Microphone

This wipes the microphone permission for all apps, not just the broken one, so every app will ask once more the next time it wants the mic. Relaunch the app, and when the dialog appears, click Allow. Community reports show it does not fix every case, but it is harmless and takes ten seconds.

A new version of the app counts as a new app. On Microsoft's own Q&A forum, a Mac user whose Teams mic went silent traced it to the switch to the new Teams app: the new app had no microphone permission, and granting it and restarting Teams fixed it. If a call app stopped hearing you right after a big update, check this list first.

Step 2: the browser is blocking the website

Google Meet, browser-based Teams and Zoom's web client add one more gate: the browser's own permission for that website. macOS can allow Chrome to use the mic while Chrome blocks meet.google.com.

• Safari: Safari > Settings > Websites > Microphone. Each site you have visited gets Ask, Deny or Allow. Set the meeting site to Ask or Allow.
• Chrome: the three-dot menu > Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Microphone. Check whether the meeting site is in the not-allowed list, and if it is, change its permission to Allow. The same page has a drop-down that picks which mic Chrome uses by default, which is the next trap.

If your Mac is managed by an employer, Google notes that an administrator can lock Chrome's camera and microphone settings. In that case the fix is a ticket to IT, not a setting you can change.

Step 3: the app is listening to the wrong microphone

This layer is behind a lot of "it worked yesterday" moments. macOS has a system input, set in Sound > Input. Most call apps keep their own choice on top of it, and the two do not have to agree.

• Zoom: Settings > Audio. Pick your mic in the Microphone drop-down and use Test microphone, which records a few seconds and plays them back. While you are there, look at Automatically adjust microphone volume. Zoom's own help says to try turning it off if your audio fades in and out, and with it on, the manual input slider is unavailable.
• Microsoft Teams: Settings and more > Settings > Devices. Choose the mic under Audio settings, then click Make a test call.
• Google Meet: More options (the three dots) > Settings > Audio, or the small arrow next to the microphone button during a call.
• Telegram on a Mac has its own microphone choice in its call settings, separate from the system one.
• Discord, OBS, Slack each have an input device menu in their voice or audio settings.

Watch for the trick where an app is set to a mic that is no longer there: the USB mic you unplugged last week, the headset in your bag, a virtual device left over from software you stopped using. Some apps fall back to the system default; others keep listening to nothing. Set the app to the exact device you want, not to "Same as System", while you troubleshoot, and switch back later if you like.

Two more ways macOS changes the input under you. Apple's support pages note that with an external display, selecting the display's built-in mic can revert to a connected headset. And an iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account can show up as an input device through Continuity Camera. If the list in Sound > Input contains something you did not expect, that is a strong hint about where your voice is going.

Internal microphone not working on a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air

If your MacBook mic is not working although the built-in mic is selected, the input volume is up and the meter is still flat, work through these in order.

Is the lid closed? Every Mac laptop with Apple silicon, and Intel MacBooks with the T2 chip, has a hardware microphone disconnect: when the lid closes, the internal mic is cut off at the hardware level. Apple's Platform Security guide states that no software can override it, not even code with kernel privileges. If you run your MacBook closed with an external monitor, the internal mic is not broken. It is switched off on purpose, and you need an external mic or a headset.

Is something covering the mic holes? The built-in mics sit behind small openings in the case, and their location differs between models. A snap-on case, a keyboard cover, a sticker or plain dust can sit right on top of them. If you are not sure where your model's mics are, Where is the microphone on a MacBook? shows the positions and why they shape the sound.

Is Mic Mode set to something unexpected? In apps that support it, such as FaceTime, the Video menu bar item has a Mic Mode option: Standard, Voice Isolation or Wide Spectrum. Voice Isolation exists to filter out background sound. If your voice drops in and out rather than disappearing completely, set Standard and test again, so you know whether the filter is involved.

Is it really the hardware? If QuickTime records silence with the built-in mic selected and the lid open, restart the Mac. On a Mac with Apple silicon, Apple's instructions for resetting the SMC come down to that same restart; there are no key combinations to hold. If the Mac is fine after a restart and fails again later, the next section helps. If it is silent after a restart, in QuickTime, with nothing covering it, book a hardware check with Apple or an authorised service provider. The built-in mic is not something you replace at home.

One thing you will not find on a modern Mac: the old "Use ambient noise reduction" checkbox. Apple's documentation says it does not appear on Macs with Apple silicon or the T2 chip, so guides telling you to toggle it are written for older machines.

AirPods and Bluetooth headsets on a Mac

Bluetooth mics fail in their own ways, and most of them are settings.

First, in System Settings, click the name of your AirPods in the sidebar and find Microphone. If you do not see it, open Audio & Routing first. The options are Automatically Switch AirPods, Always Left AirPod and Always Right AirPod. Apple's AirPods guide says that with Always Left or Always Right, that AirPod uses the microphone even when it is out of your ear or in the case. So if you set Always Left months ago and today you are wearing only the right one, the mic is in a case on your desk.

Second, Bluetooth limits how much detail a mic can send. When a headset's mic is active, the connection has to carry your voice both ways, and the input arrives with less detail than a wired mic sends. That is why AirPods can sound thin on a call even when they "work". If others say you sound distant or like a speakerphone, the device is behaving as Bluetooth allows, not broken. Why does your AirPods mic sound bad or stop working on a Mac? covers that case in depth, including when to stop fighting it and plug something in.

Third, before anything clever, reconnect: put the AirPods in the case for ten seconds, take them out, and reselect them in Sound > Input. If a headset is paired with your phone too, make sure the phone has not grabbed it.

Mac external microphone not working (USB, 3.5 mm, interface)

USB microphones. If the mic appears in Sound > Input but the meter is flat, look at the mic before the Mac. Many USB mics have a mute button or a gain knob on the body, and a knob at zero sends silence no matter what macOS does. Apple's documentation also notes that for digital input devices you cannot set the input volume with the Mac's controls; you have to adjust it at the source. In practice, on many USB mics the slider in Sound settings is greyed out or does nothing, and the knob on the mic is the real control.

If the mic does not appear at all, unplug it, try a different cable and a different port, and skip any hub for the test. Bus-powered mics and cheap hubs do not always get along. Apple's checklist for audio devices in Audio MIDI Setup (in Applications > Utilities) is short and practical: check the connection, check the device is powered, and install any software the manufacturer requires. Audio MIDI Setup also lets you select the mic, choose Use This Device for Sound Input, and look at its Format, the sample rate and bit depth. Apple says they should match what the device expects.

Whether your particular USB mic needs its maker's app at all is its own question. Does your USB mic need its own software on a Mac? goes through it.

3.5 mm mics. Apple describes the combined audio port on Macs as stereo output plus mono input, the kind a headset with a built-in mic uses. That means it expects a headset-style plug. A gaming headset with two separate plugs, one for headphones and one for the mic, will not be heard through a single combo jack without the right splitter adapter, and neither will most clip-on mics made for cameras. Look at the plug: a headset plug has four metal sections separated by three thin bands, while a plug with three sections and two bands was usually made for a separate mic input, which most Macs of recent years do not have.

Audio interfaces. If your XLR mic goes through an interface, the interface is the device to select in Sound > Input. The usual culprits are on the interface itself: input gain at zero, the mic plugged into input 2 while the app listens to input 1, or a condenser mic without phantom power switched on. The channel layout can trip up call apps too, because a two-input interface shows up as a stereo device and a mic on input 1 sits on one side of it.

When every setting looks right and it still fails

Sometimes the mic works after a restart and dies again an hour later, or works in one app until another app opens. That pattern points at macOS's audio service rather than at the mic.

Restarting the whole Mac is the reliable fix. If you are mid-call and cannot restart, a common workaround from the Apple Community is to restart only Core Audio, the background service that handles all sound in and out:

sudo killall coreaudiod

Type your administrator password when asked. macOS starts the service again by itself within seconds. Sound cuts out briefly, and call apps may need to reselect their mic afterwards.

If the problem keeps coming back, look at what you installed recently. Virtual audio devices from call tools, screen recorders and audio routing apps all plug into the same audio system, and a device left selected after its app was uninstalled can leave an app listening to nothing. Remove it properly with its own uninstaller, then check Sound > Input again.

When the mic works but sounds bad

Now the other half. Your meter moves, people can hear you, and the feedback is "you sound far away", "you're in a bathroom", "you're muffled". Nothing is broken here, and no troubleshooting step above will change it. A laptop mic sits a forearm's length from your mouth in a room full of hard surfaces, and it picks up the room nearly as well as it picks up you.

The free fixes come first, and they are real:

1. Get closer. Halving the distance to the mic makes your voice much louder relative to the room. A headset or a desk mic 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) away does more for your voice than any setting on this page.
2. Use Voice Isolation from the Mic Mode menu in apps that offer it, for noisy rooms.
3. Set the input volume so your normal speaking voice fills the meter roughly halfway, not to the top.
4. Soften the room. Curtains, a sofa, a bookshelf behind the laptop all cut the echo that makes a voice sound hollow.

If you have done all that and the voice still sounds thin or roomy, the remaining option is processing. This is where TunedMic fits, and where it does not. TunedMic adds a virtual microphone called TunedMic to your Mac. It takes the sound from your real mic, processes it on the Mac in real time, and any app where you pick TunedMic as the microphone, from Zoom and Teams to Telegram, Discord and OBS, hears the processed voice. Setup is a one-minute Sound Check: you read a short passage aloud, and TunedMic takes more than 30 measurements of your voice, your mic and your room to build its profiles.

Be clear on its limits. TunedMic cannot fix a mic your Mac does not hear: it works on the signal that comes in, so every step above still comes first. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 14 or later; there is no Intel, Windows or iPhone version. The first 3 days are free; after that it costs $39 once at the launch price, with no refunds. The home page has real before and after recordings from a MacBook's built-in mic, a cheap wired headset and a Hollyland Lark M2. If your problem is purely a dead mic, you do not need it.

The order to work through, with times

1. Sound > Input: is the mic listed, does Input level move?     1 min
2. QuickTime > File > New Audio Recording: is your voice there?  1 min
3. Privacy & Security > Microphone: is the app switched on?     1 min
4. Browser site settings, if the call runs in a browser          1 min
5. The app's own microphone menu + its test feature              2 min
6. Lid open? Holes uncovered? Mic Mode set to Standard?          1 min
7. AirPods: Microphone set to Automatically Switch?              1 min
8. USB / interface: gain knob, mute button, cable, no hub        3 min
9. Restart the Mac (or sudo killall coreaudiod mid-call)         2 min

Thirteen minutes, worst case. If the meter moved in step 1, the answer is almost always in step 3, 4 or 5, because those are the only layers left.

Your next step

Do steps 1 and 2 now, before your next call, not during it. If QuickTime records your voice and your call app still does not, the cause is a permission or an app setting, and fifteen minutes before the meeting is plenty of time to fix it. If QuickTime records your voice and you simply do not like what you hear, listen to the before and after recordings from a built-in MacBook mic and decide whether the difference is worth $39 to you, and check the pricing page for what the license includes.