Why is my microphone not working for dictation?

When dictation does not hear you, the microphone itself is rarely broken. The usual causes are a permission that blocks the app, or a selected input that is not the microphone you are speaking into. Check permission first, because a blocked microphone looks exactly like a broken one: the dictation key responds, the app looks ready, and no text arrives. Then select the right device and raise its input volume.

Permission is the first thing to check

Each system asks for microphone access per app, and a dictation app that has no access records nothing. Apple says you can decide which apps are allowed to use the microphone ¹. On a Mac, open Apple menu > System Settings, go to Privacy & Security, then Microphone, and turn on the app you dictate into. If you dictate through Terminal or another tool that runs in a terminal, that terminal needs the switch as well.

On Windows, go to Start, Settings, Privacy & security, Microphone, and make sure Microphone access is on. Voice typing shows this as its own error: it needs access to your microphone, and you turn that on in settings ².

On an iPhone, go to Settings, tap Microphone, and make sure the app is enabled ³.

After you change a permission, test dictation again before you change anything else. On a Mac, a permission change may not take effect in an app that was already running. Claude Code's documentation says that after you reset a terminal's microphone permission, you must quit the terminal with Cmd+Q, because macOS does not prompt a process that is already running ⁴. Quitting and reopening the app is a cheap test.

The wrong input device takes the sound and the engine hears silence

If the permission is on, check which microphone is selected. Apple tells Mac users to select the microphone in Sound settings and raise its input volume if the Mac does not respond to their voice ⁵. If you use an external microphone, its input volume must be sufficient too, so raise it rather than assume it is set right.

Bluetooth headsets cause a common version of this problem. Apple says that when Bluetooth switches to its second mode, audio quality drops until the microphone is no longer in use ⁶. The result is often muffled sound and poor recognition. Select the built-in microphone or a wired headset, then test again. The microphone guide explains how to choose one.

A covered or distant microphone produces wrong words, not silence

If words appear but they are wrong, the microphone is working and the sound is not clear enough. Apple advises that the Mac's microphone should not be blocked by objects such as clothing or your body while you speak ⁷. On an iPhone, remove any case or screen protector and clear debris from the microphone openings before you test again.

Distance matters more than most people expect. In a study that compared recordings made with one distant microphone against close-talking speech, the distant condition gave a word error rate about 3.2 times the close-talking rate ⁸. The two conditions were not identical, so read that ratio as a direction, not a precise measure of your device. The practical rule is the same: move the microphone closer and the errors fall. The background noise guide covers the room side.

Match the symptom to the cause

If your platform has its own menus, the full steps are in the platform guides: Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

What to do, in this order

1. Confirm the app is allowed to use the microphone in the system settings listed above.
2. Quit the app completely and open it again, or restart it, so the new permission takes effect.
3. Select the microphone you want in Sound settings, and raise its input volume until your voice shows on the level meter.
4. Dictate one test sentence into a plain text box, such as a new note.
5. If nothing arrives, move to the platform guide for your device, and keep a note of the device, the system version and the exact message.

Yap, which we make, is a dictation app for Mac and Windows that runs on your device. If built-in dictation keeps failing and you need a different tool, the download page lists the current versions and what each one supports.