External Microphone Not Working with macOS 26.01 Phone App

Question

External Microphone Not Working with macOS 26.01 Phone App

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? My external microphone functions perfectly in all other applications, and I can see the input level bar moving as expected. However, when I place a call using the new Phone application on macOS 26.01, the app seems to disable the microphone entirely. Once the call ends, the mic resumes normal operation.

I attempted to grant the Phone app microphone access through System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, but the app doesn’t appear in the list, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to manually add it.

Is there a simple fix for this, or does the current version of the Phone app not support external microphones like Logic Pro and other audio-enabled applications do?

Any guidance or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.

Mac mini, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 5, 2025 1:55 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 8, 2025 10:02 AM in response to chasingerrors

for Audio glitches on Mac after macOS Tahoe update try from Terminal.app copy and paste::

sudo killall coreaudiod

you can try launching PhotoBooth.app in the background and see if there is any relief to your issue..(?)

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 2

Oct 23, 2025 1:35 PM in response to leroydouglas

I've been fighting with this issue all day! I don't know whether the terminal command did the trick or if plugging in my external mic was the fix, but now my DJI Mic 2 transmitter works fine wirelessly with my Mac mini M2 Pro.

(I put all the models in here just in case what I did was device-specific.)

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Answer 3

Oct 15, 2025 9:16 AM in response to chasingerrors

I have a HyperX Quadcast and it stopped working after updating to macOS Tahoe. I tested it on a PC and on another Mac that hasn’t been updated to Tahoe and it works fine there. Any solutions?

sudo killall coreaudiod didn’t work.

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