Microphone access for the discussion recorder

Last updated 24 September 2026

The discussion recorder on the Problems step listens through your browser's microphone. If you press Record the discussion and see "We need microphone access to record", the browser or the computer is blocking it. Three things fix almost every case.

Start here

1. Allow the site. Click the small icon at the left end of the address bar (a lock, a pair of sliders, or an "i"), find Microphone, and set it to Allow.
2. Reload the page. The browser only asks for the microphone again after a reload.
3. Check the computer's own privacy setting. If the site is allowed and the browser still cannot hear anything, the operating system is blocking the browser itself. The sections below show where.

Windows

Open Start › Settings › Privacy & security › Microphone, then:

• Turn on Microphone access.
• Turn on Let apps access your microphone.
• Turn on Let desktop apps access your microphone.
• Close and reopen the browser.

macOS

Open Apple menu › System Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone, then:

• Turn on the browser you are using — Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
• Quit the browser fully (⌘Q, not just closing the window) and open it again.

By browser

Chrome

• Click the icon at the left of the address bar, choose Site settings, and set Microphone to Allow.
• If it is not listed there, paste chrome://settings/content/microphone into the address bar. Make sure theoryos.co is not under Not allowed to use your microphone, and that the microphone selected at the top of that page is the one you mean to use.

Microsoft Edge

• The same steps as Chrome. The settings page is edge://settings/content/microphone.

Firefox

• Click the icon at the left of the address bar. If Microphone shows Blocked, click the × beside it to clear that, reload, and choose Allow when asked.
• Or open Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to Permissions › Microphone › Settings…, and remove theoryos.co from the blocked list.

Safari (macOS only)

• With theoryos.co open, choose Safari › Settings for theoryos.co… from the menu bar and set Microphone to Allow.
• Or open Safari › Settings › Websites › Microphone and set theoryos.co to Allow.

Still not working?

If the browser still refuses after you have allowed it, it is usually one of these:

• A managed computer. Your IT team has blocked microphone access by policy. Ask them to allow it for theoryos.co, or use a personal device.
• Another app has the microphone, or the wrong input is selected. Close Zoom, Teams and the like, check the input device in the system's sound settings, then reload.
• The browser needs a full quit and reopen after a permission change, not just a new tab.
• An in-app browser. A link opened inside Teams, Slack or a mail app often cannot record at all — the recorder will say so. Open the page in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari instead.

What happens to the recording

The audio is transcribed and turned into a short statement of the problem your team discussed. Nothing identifies who said what, and neither the audio nor the transcript is kept. The privacy policy has the detail.

Still stuck? Write to hello@theoryfirstgroup.com.