Help! iOS 7 broke my microphone input! Help! iOS 7 broke my microphone input!
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Help! iOS 7 broke my microphone input!

We hear a lot about people having problems with their music apps on iOS 7 no longer receiving audio. I thought it was time I posted an article describing why this is happening, and how to fix it.

iOS 7 introduced a bunch of new security and privacy features and restrictions. In particular, when an app wants to record audio, iOS 7 will block the app from doing so until the user gives permission. Usually this happens via an alert dialog in the app:

Screen Shot 2013 10 23 at 12 41 10

However, if one taps “Don’t Allow”, the system won’t ask again — ever. That can spell confusion and frustration (and support emails, and 1-star App Store reviews!) for users who tapped the dialog away without reading it, and then discovered they’re unable to record audio.

Alas, there’s not much that can be done about that from our end, except for explaining how to fix the issue once this happens.

The trick is to open Privacy Settings for the device, and enable Microphone access for the app. The controls can be found in the system Settings app:

Screenshot 2013 10 23 12 55 54

Screenshot 2013 10 23 12 29 13

Once you’ve turned this on, the app should begin receiving audio. Depending on certain factors, you may need to quit and restart the app.

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Hi! I'm Michael Tyson, and I run A Tasty Pixel from our home in the hills of Melbourne, Australia. I occasionally write on a variety of technology and software development topics. I've also spent 3.5-years travelling around Europe in a motorhome.

I make Loopy, the live-looper for iOS, Audiobus, the app-to-app audio platform, and Samplebot, a sampler and sequencer app for iOS.

Follow me on Twitter.

© 2021 A Tasty Pixel.