External mic not working with Apple Facebook app

The interesting thing is the external mic will work with dictating to Facebook to write a message for example, but no matter whether I try to plug it in before or after the start of a Facebook live video, front camera or rear camera, it doesn’t matter. The external mic doesn’t work. And it used to.

I gave up hope for Facebook fixing this problem with the ios app, so I bought "Mevo Smart" and yesterday was able to easily life stream our church service using an external microphone! Wow, I'm happy with this!

I used to have to plug in the external mic after starting FB Live, or the mic wouldn’t work. But for the past two days, the external mic won’t work no matter what. I got a new mic this morning, and my iOS updated last night to 14.3, and it still won’t work. I tried with a brand-new iPhone 12 and with a 7 Plus. An external mic definitely won’t work no matter what.

I know this isn’t going to solve your issue but I can add we encountered something same with StreamLabs app today. The live video was lagging, plus, for some strange reason it didn’t recognize the external microphone despite the fact that I tried it on last Friday to make sure it works.

with all these suggestions here in this forum, it’s just clear to all of us that this whole thing is not an apple issue but rather something related to Facebook, and they don’t seem to bother! :(

I tried this and unfortunately for me using the same iPhone it did not work plugging in a corded lapel mike using Apple’s included lightning adapter with Facebook Live. It used to work fine. And this set up does work to dictate comment messages in Facebook, so I know the connection and the cords and the mic are all working properly. But with Facebook live, nothing. I even tried plugging the mic in after starting Facebook live with iRig running in the background. No luck.

I have same issue with audio. For the video part before you start to video on FB Live go to Live while in the vertical position. When the video screen come on turn phone horizontal and then you can touch the start live video button and then it should record correctly. hope that helps with the video part,

Hi,

I too had exactly the same issue where as I had to plug-in the audio interface after going live, but now this has also stopped working. iOS and Facebook apps are completely up-to-date, but the iPhone will not pick up the audio interface (tried iPhone 6S, 7, 9 and 11 Pro Max), however it does work on an iPad. Has anybody had the same issue – is there a fix for this?

much appreciated!

I also agree it’s a Facebook issue, however this is the only forum I’ve found that speaks to the problem and offers work arounds. Priceless at this point given Facebook’s inaction. I suggest we keep the thread alive wile at the same time constantly reporting the problem to Facebook and pushing them for a solution.

Agreed. BTW, if you have a Facebook Live stream saved in which the mic didn’t work, you can shake your iPhone and it will capture it and allow you to send Facebook a complaint about stuff not working. I’m considering doing more frequent tests in which I post the stream to my personal FB account with an audience of “Only Me” and send every one of them as a complaint to Facebook until they fix this. Maybe every week.

Hi,

I use a Scarlett 2i2 to broadcast via my iPhone. I just use an Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter - uses USB for the Scarlett and lightning port to power the Scarlett and charge the phone and it works fab - awesome sound quality (when the Facebook connectivity issue is fixed anyways). Gonna try the update to v303 tomorrow :-)

On iOS 14.4 iPhone XS, using the Lightning to jack and a TRRS splitter, I’m unable to use the external microphone (Yeti Blue Nano) with a TRS cable.

I remember almost a year ago I got all these dongles and adapters because it used to work, at least I remember the official Video Camera app and Voice Recording app used to work. Now nothing works. I bet not even the official Apple headphones with mic are actually working and it is the phone's mic being used in calls too.

I have been using the iRig app successfully for a few weeks now as a work around to address this issue. But tonight during a FB Live stream it didn’t work and didn’t pick up the external microphones. I have just checked and I see that my iPhone 11 updated Facebook to version 308 a few days ago. I see a post from another user who found version 308 to be a problem with their iPhone 12.

Has anyone else on FB version 308 experienced any recent successes or issues recently?

Right now you don’t have to use I-rig. The iPhone will recognize the external mic even before you start FBL, and it will stay on. It must have been an IOS update that fixed it. Right now I am rolling with it the way I did before the problem. I use MOTIV audio app to check levels and adjust gain. Can do that before starting your live broadcast.

Seems like all apple products are not exactly the same. On Facebook version 307, I didn’t need a workaround to livestream on iPhone 12 but had to use iRig workaround on iPad Mini 4 and Air 2. Now, with Facebook 308, it’s reversed, works without workaround on iPad Mini 4 and Air 2 but need to use iRig workaround on iPhone 12. All are updated with IOS 14.4 and Facebook 308. Frustrating.... will now leave all my iPads to Facebook 308 and keep updating iPhone 12 until it works properly.... As for iOS updates, who knows.....

It did not work for me - to start facebook live - then plug the external mic in. It still used the iphone mic only