Use Your iPhone as a Microphone for Your Mac

[MacRumors]

If you have macOS 13 or later installed on your Mac, you can use a nearby iPhone as your computer's microphone input. Keep reading to learn how it works.

When Apple released macOS Ventura in October 2022, it introduced a new take on its Continuity Camera feature by letting users use their iPhone's camera as a webcam for their Mac. Continuity Camera works wirelessly or wired in FaceTime, Zoom, and other apps, and delivers video directly from a user's nearby ‌iPhone‌ camera, which has significantly better quality than the built-in camera on Macs.

Another function of Continuity Camera is the ability to use a nearby iPhone as the microphone input for your Mac. As long as the iPhone is running iOS 16 or later and signed into the same Apple Account, you can speak into it and the audio will be seamlessly delivered to your Mac, sans video.

The following steps show you how to set it up in macOS Ventura and later.

1. On your Mac, click the Apple () symbol in the menu bar and select System Settings....
2. Click Sound in the sidebar.
3. Under "Output & Input," click the Input tab.
4. Select the name of your nearby iPhone, listed as Type "Continuity Camera."

Your nearby iPhone will ping with a sound and show a "Connected to..." Screen indicating that it has successfully connected. You can now use your iPhone as a microphone for your Mac.

You can pause the connection at any time using the Pause button. When you're finished, simply tap the red Disconnect button on your iPhone's screen.

Article Link: Use Your iPhone as a Microphone for Your Mac

 

[Alfonson]

I use it with Teams from time to time since every couple of weeks my audio input gets very low for some reason and then gets back to normal for some other reason.
Unfortunately, the iPhone mic disconnects like every minute and instantly reconnects. Pretty annoying when trying to talk to someone. I have no idea what coud lead to this behavior

 

[ghostface147]

I actually didn’t know this. I knew about the camera, but not the mic part.

 

[orangeadrenaline]

Which microphone is superior - M1 MacBook Air or iPhone 12 mini? Thanks!

 

[FSMBP]

Which microphone is superior - M1 MacBook Air or iPhone 12 mini? Thanks!

Most likely the iPhone's (especially how it can be closer to you and may have better vocal-isolation due to the other mics it has).

 

[Bhy]

it's not showing up for me, what to check?

 

[FSMBP]

it's not showing up for me, what to check?

Make sure you're on Mac Ventura, Sonoma or Sequia. Also, that you're on iOS 16 or above.

Also, make sure you're Apple ID on your Mac is the same one on your iPhone.

If all that is in order and it still doesn't show, reboot your Mac & iPhone.

 

[rotlex]

Wow. I did not know this. Just picked up a new Mac Mini the other week, coming from an iMac, and was trying to figure out which web cam to buy. Not I guess I don't have too. Very cool!

 

[dugbug]

love these synergistic continuity features

 

[amaze1499]

Does the iPhone mic pop up under /keyboard/dictation for anyone around here?

 

[adrianlondon]

it's not showing up for me, what to check?

Bluetooth has to be enabled on both devices. As soon as I turned BT on, my phone was listed.

 

[dominiongamma]

love these synergistic continuity features

It’s a shame that Apple never advertise them

 

[alanvitek]

I use my MBP in clamshell mode most of the time, this is a handy feature for teams meetings (since the mic on the MBP is disabled when it's closed)

 

[Sophytaylor6@]

I am not sure that this feature works, as it disconnects now and then. It worked with the camera but not with the mic.

 

[rp2011]

Awesome. Good to know.

 

[tomekwsrod]

Cool. Wish that was possible with Windows iPhone as mic for laptop with Windows.

 

[richpjr]

it's not showing up for me, what to check?

Try this:

How to fix iPhone SE not recognized as We… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[ian-mac]

I've used it doing Quicktime screencasts in the past. The quality is horrible. Guess it's ok for video chats etc where you aren't too interested in how good it sounds.

 

[philosopherdog]

Could come in handy taking a call from the toilet without having to carry your Mac

 

[ian-mac]

Could come in handy taking a call from the toilet without having to carry your Mac

I genuinely can't work out if you're being serious 🤣

 

[Unami]

Which microphone is superior - M1 MacBook Air or iPhone 12 mini? Thanks!

Probably the iphone's - and if you can position it closer to your mouth, it will definitely sound better.

 

[aaronhead14]

This wouldn’t even be needed if Apple just added a basic microphone to the Mac Studio. They should have just put whatever mic they use in the iMac in the Mac Studio. It’s super annoying that the Mac Studio literally has no built-in mic.

 

[Bhy]

Make sure you're on Mac Ventura, Sonoma or Sequia. Also, that you're on iOS 16 or above.

Also, make sure you're Apple ID on your Mac is the same one on your iPhone.

If all that is in order and it still doesn't show, reboot your Mac & iPhone.

did all that, googled, removed Camo, rebooted all again, still no joy. Thing I haven't tried yet is plug phone in via usb c cable and trust device.

 

[nli10@mac.com]

Cool. Wish that was possible with Windows iPhone as mic for laptop with Windows.

I’ve got the app EpocCam which I use to do mic and or camera to windows laptop from iPad or iPhone. Was only cheap and seems to be supported still after years.

Probably other alternatives too but this has decent basic features included

 

[bluedoggiant]

I will say this is actually nifty and I’ve been using it. It feels weird having to go into system settings to enable it , feels cumbersome.

It’s definitely better than my webcam microphone and I prefer not to use my AirPods when sitting alone in a quiet space. The sound quality on the other end is noticeably greater.

For those that have trouble getting it to work, you do need the latest updates