Glossary
Site microphone permission
Site microphone permission is the browser's setting for each website that decides whether that site may use your microphone, usually chosen when the browser prompts you. It works alongside the operating system's own microphone setting, so both must allow the microphone before a site can listen.
Updated October 17, 20264 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called browser microphone permission.
Site microphone permission is the browser's record of whether a particular website may open your microphone. The browser asks the first time a site needs it, and your answer applies to that site. A website that has not been allowed cannot start listening, whatever its button says.
The browser asks the first time a site wants the microphone
On a computer, Chrome gives you three answers when a site wants the microphone: Allow while visiting the site, Allow this time, or Never allow 1. Choosing Never allow blocks the site until you change the setting.
The operating system has a second switch
The browser is an app, so the operating system can also block it. On a Mac, Apple says you can decide which apps are allowed to use the microphone 2. On Windows 11, apps can use the microphone only when Microphone access is turned on under Privacy & security, App permissions, Microphone 3.
The result is two checks in a row. The operating system must allow your browser, and the browser must allow the site. If either one says no, speech input stops.
A blocked site gets an error, not a transcript
When the browser refuses speech input, the page receives an error. MDN describes the not-allowed error as meaning the browser blocked speech input for security, privacy or user preference reasons 4. A page can show a message for that error, but if it does not, the microphone button may simply appear to do nothing.
To check, open the browser's settings for that website and look at its microphone setting. Then check the operating system's microphone setting for the browser. Our guide to dictation not working on a Mac covers the operating system side.
Why it matters for dictation and typing
Any web tool that listens to you depends on this permission, including tools built on the Web Speech API. Because the answer is stored per site, a permission you gave to one tool does not carry over to another, and a Never allow choice will block a site that you want to use later.
Our guide to speech to text in Chrome explains which Chrome options need this permission. Dictating into any app explains why a system-wide tool depends on the operating system permission instead.
Related terms
- Web Speech API: the browser interface that asks for the microphone.
- System-wide dictation: dictation that works in any text field, and so depends on the operating system permission.
- Accessibility permission (macOS): a separate Mac permission that lets an app control other apps.
Guides that cover it
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
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Related terms
- Voice Typing in Google Docs, Word and Every Other AppThe topic this term belongs to
- Connected experiences (Microsoft 365)Connected experiences are Microsoft 365 features backed by cloud services, and Dictate is one of the experiences that analyze your content. You can turn them off in Manage Settings, but that setting also turns off other services.
- CursorlessCursorless is a spoken language for structural code editing that lets developers code by voice. Every command is an action performed on a target in the code, and it runs on Talon with a VS Code extension.
- Dictate (Microsoft 365)Dictate is the speech-to-text feature in Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Outlook and PowerPoint. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, a microphone and a reliable internet connection.
- Dictation (ChromeOS)Dictation on ChromeOS is a built-in accessibility feature that types recognized speech into an editable field. You turn it on with Search + D or the microphone icon in the status tray.
- Talon VoiceTalon Voice, usually called Talon, is hands-free input software for writing, coding, browsing and gaming. It runs alongside a speech-recognition engine, and it is used for voice coding, often together with the Cursorless editing language.
- Text insertionText insertion is the step where dictation software places recognized words into the text field that has the cursor. It is done either by simulating keystrokes or by pasting the text from the clipboard.
- Transcribe (Microsoft 365)Transcribe is a Word for Microsoft 365 feature that turns an uploaded audio file into text in the Transcribe pane, rather than typing your speech into the document. Its monthly limits depend on your license.
- Vibe codingVibe coding is building software by describing what you want to an AI model and accepting the code it writes, without reviewing that code. Andrej Karpathy introduced the term, and the developer Simon Willison argues for a narrower meaning than the broad one now in use.
- Voice codingVoice coding, also called programming by voice or coding by voice, is writing and editing source code by speaking instead of typing. It needs a speech-recognition engine and a separate platform that turns spoken words into code editing actions.
- Voice typing (Google Docs)Voice typing in Google Docs is a built-in speech-to-text tool that types as you speak. You start it from the Tools menu in a supported browser, and the browser controls the speech-to-text service.
- WaylandWayland is the display system that Linux desktops are moving to in place of the X Window System, called X11. Its compositor delivers input to each app, so a typing tool that worked on X11 may not type on a Wayland desktop.
- Web Speech APIThe Web Speech API is a set of browser interfaces that let a web page start speech recognition and receive the recognized words as text, through an object called SpeechRecognition. Where the recognition runs, on your device or on a server, depends on the browser.
Pages that use this term
- Voice Typing in Google Docs, Word and Every Other AppTopic
- How to Turn On Voice Typing on Every DeviceGuide
- Speech to Text in Chrome: Built-in Options and ExtensionsGuide
- Dictation in ChatGPT and Claude: Speaking Your PromptsGuide
- Web Speech API: Speech Recognition in the BrowserGuide
- How do you dictate in ChatGPT?Question
- How do you dictate in Claude?Question
- How do you voice type online for free?Question
- Why is ChatGPT dictation not working?Question
- Why is dictation not working in Chrome?Question
- Web Speech APIGlossary