Just switched to Monterey and having audio problem on Facetime and Whatsapp calls

I may have found a workaround. A friend of mine who used to work at Apple suggested disabling noise cancellation. This can be done by opening System Preferences, clicking on Sound, clicking input tab, and unchecking "Use ambient noise reduction". Note, the option is only shown (can only be enabled or disabled) BEFORE opening FaceTime or any other affected app.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for reaching out, we’ll be glad to help with FaceTime and see if we can find out what’s causing this behavior.

Have you seen the article FaceTime User Guide – Change audio options for FaceTime calls on Mac? If not, look and see if any of the settings can be changed that will help the sound come through.

Reach back out if you still need help.

Take care!

I have this question too on my MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016). I seen the article FaceTime User Guide – Change audio options for FaceTime calls on Mac. But nothing helpful.

Only problems with FaceTime and WhatsApp

This is the form I used when I submitted for the Macbook 2016 no audio in facetime issue: Feedback - macOS - Apple

When I filed the bug report I linked back to this forum thread, so in theory there is the capability for feedback to this thread if the issue was going to be addressed.

I suspect the no-audio issue (issue #1) might be very low priority to fix, given it sounds like affected devices (Macbook '16's, Mac Mini '14's) are all going to fall off the bottom of the support list on the next Mac OS point release :-(

I have this issue too - and also on Early 2016 Retina Macbook which I think the OP is also on.

To give more details of what's going on - when ringing someone in facetime, the ring tone sounds, but as soon as it connects to the other party, there is no audio from the other side. We can both see video, they can hear my audio, but I can not hear their audio. The same call behaviour occurs in whatsapp desktop (which is.... wierd). When calling back on my iphone the call works as expected.

I have tried so far:

• Different user on the mac
• NVRAM/PRAM reset
• Restarting the mac
• Different networks (to eliminate firewall issues)
• Calling different people on different devices

I know the device (Macbook retina) is old, but facetime calls were all it was being used for, so locating a solution for this issue, at least in facetime, would be ideal.

Today I coincidently noticed that when using an external monitor with a built-in webcam, speakers and microphone the issue is gone. So in short:

• FaceTime on Monterey 12.1 with a standalone MacBook Pro (2016) causes the audio to be crackling, choppy on not working at all (all other apps the audio is fine)
• FaceTime on Monterey 12.1 with an external monitor connected through USB-C with built-in webcam, speakers and microphone the audio is fine

Anybody from Apple to help? Will this be resolved in the next update / bugfix?

Have got the same issue here on a 2015 MacBook Air / Monterey 12.3.1.

Monterey used to work, now it doesn't. I think the problem began with a recent Monterey update. So it's a software problem.

It affects most web communications: FaceTime, WhatsApp, Google Meet - but oddly not Zoom.

Here is an easy way to test/reproduce the issue: https://webcammictest.com/check-mic.html

If you get cracking/distortion there, you will have the issue in other apps.

None of the suggested solutions have worked for me:

• Restarting the computer
• Resetting SMC & PRAM
• Deleting the pref files in /Library/Preferences/Audio
• Changing the mic device sample rate in Audio MIDI Setup
• Disabling Ambient Noise Reduction in Sound prefs

...apart from "plug in a set of headphones and then unplug them". (!)

This fixes the issue for me. I suspect there is some bug in Monterey where it doesn't initialise the audio device properly. Apple need to fix this ASAP!

Go to "Built-in Output" and "Configure Speakers.." and click Left+Right test sound. Should be cropped.

Oddly enough I picked up on this and found the following:

using Audio MIDI Setup.app you can change "Play Alerts and Sound Effects.." via the other USB-C device and this makes it go away for me!!

Go to "Built-in Output" and "Configure Speakers.." and click Left+Right test sound. Should be normal.

Hello,

same config (Macbook early 2016), and there's no sound in FaceTime anymore since I did the last update of Monterey 12.1. It's seems that the new FaceTime version doesn't work.

people hear me but I don't hear them back. It doesn't work when I call people with the new or old FaceTime (SharePlay or not).

I have the same problem as the others on this thread. Tried all the items in the FaceTime user guide. No incoming sound on FaceTime or WhatsApp but it does work using exactly the same settings on Zoom...

I have exactly the same problem with a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016). Audio in applications other than FaceTime and Whatsapp work fine. But when making a call through FaceTime or Whatsapp the sound is almost 'choppy', 'crackling', or doesn't work at all. This started with the update to Monterey 12.1.

Same problem here.

i did an other post also.

imac 2017, there a bug in the audio API used by Safar or facetime for realtime communication

It is impossible to communicate!!!!

you can also test the issue using:

https://webcammictest.com/check-mic.html

It is now clear that there is a serious issue with the sound with the last update 12.1

Apple is for sure working quickly to fix this bug they have introduced.

This is very strange that have released this kind of update without testing facetime…