External mic not working with Apple Facebook app

Interestingly, I haven’t upgraded to the 14.2 but... this happened to me and to others I know who have to do lots of live streaming now. Two things I have learned. For me, I only have to do step one. But For others, step two will be necessary.

1. For FB Live, as others have said, begin the live stream and only after it has begun, plug in your device. This seems to be the only step necessary for me.
2. A second step is to then swipe down from the right corner of your iPhone screen and open the iPhone control panel. Choose the audio box (the triangle and rainbow) (see photos) and then choose the device you are connected to.

Again, for me, it only shows headphones. But others seem to have other options.

How this helps.

This whole situation is ridiculous. Sometimes the Facebook hack works, sometimes it doesn't. Now my microphone isn't working with even the regular video recording feature built into the iphone. There should be a way to control the audio input source on the iphone itself.

I struggled with this when I first noticed this in mid-November. Tremendously frustrated not being able to find any support about it online. Tried what seemed like everything to no avail. Our Røde XLR to lightning connector worked fine with other apps but not Facebook. (This actually forced our hand to a new live-streaming platform using OBS and multiple Canon cameras.)

Found this thread yesterday after realizing I’d need to stream with the iPhone today. Like some who have posted here, I too tried the suggestions here on my iPhone with no success while my friend’s iPhone worked successfully (same version of IOS and Facebook.)

After comparing a number of iPhone settings between our iPhones , we determined that you’ll need to:

1) Ensure that Bluetooth is enabled on the iPhone. (I also disabled uploading photos and videos in HD in Facebook settings.)

2) Start the live broadcast.

3) Connect the external mic after a couple of seconds.

That did the trick for me. Hope this helps, particularly for those who state that the fix used to work but stopped working.

The workaround of plugging in after started FBLive worked for me until today. Nothing would connect the i11 phone to the mixer (using Rode Go or Tascam). Swapped to an old iPhone 6s and it worked immediately. So it seems more like an Apple issue than FB. REALLY pulling my hair out on this one. Ideas??

Did you start the external source first, then start FBLive, then unplug and reconnect the lightning cable? That seems to be the most common workaround (and worked for me until last Sunday when it just wouldn’t connect at all).

same issue here! Try Streamlabs app, it’s free and it recognizes external microphones, and you can live stream in landscape as well! For me, with the regular Facebook app, a landscaped video live stream was also a struggle: the picture appeared sideways no matter what I did!

I’m having the same issue. I’m trying to avoid using my iPad which didn’t update because I don’t have a WiFi connection and it costs money to use my hotspot. If anyone finds a solution, please share!

thanks..this worked for me finally

Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter

This did not work for me. However external mic does work when using the iPhone video app.

We have this issue too and have discovered a work around. Start the FB live video and THEN plug in the external mic. FB will recognize that mic and will shut off the internal iphone mic