Mac (Designed for iPad) cannot access microphone

AFAIK Mac Catalyst apps can access the microphone. However, you have to keep in mind that a Mac Catalyst app is pretty much a Mac app, so you have to follow the Mac rules:

• If you have the hardened runtime enabled, you need to sign your app with the com.apple.security.device.audio-input entitlement.
• If you have the App Sandbox enabled, you need to sign your app with the com.apple.security.device.microphone entitlement.
• You have to add NSMicrophoneUsageDescription to your Info.plist [1].

Please try this out and let me know how you get along.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

[1] There are some cases where the Info.plist properties use different keys on the Mac vs other platforms. I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s NSAlwaysAllowMicrophoneModeControl for everyone.

I have both com.apple.security.device.audio-input and com.apple.security.device.microphone present in entitlements already, and I have NSMicrophoneUsageDescription in info.plist as well. My app does not appear in "Privacy & Security -> Microphone" settings to grant permission for microphone use though.

And again, this is "Mac (Designed for iPad)" build which is only going to work on Apple Silicon Macs. My laptop is such a device. I can run the app out of Xcode. The Sandbox settings do not appear when I select "Mac (Designed for iPad)" instead of "Mac Catalyst" or just "Mac" builds.

And again, this is "Mac (Designed for iPad)" build

Ah, yeah, I got mixed up with the terminology. A “Mac (Designed for iPad)” build takes you down the iOS apps on Mac path, which is definitely not Mac Catalyst. Sorry about the confusion.

iOS apps on Mac should follow iOS conventions, so:

• There’s no hardened runtime or App Sandbox, so no need for com.apple.security.device.audio-input or com.apple.security.device.microphone.
• You do still need NSMicrophoneUsageDescription.

With that in mind, I sat down to try this out. Here’s what I did:

1. Using Xcode 26.4 on macOS 26.4.1, I created a new test project.
2. I wired up two buttons to some basic recording code (see below).
3. In the Info tab of the target settings, I added a NSMicrophoneUsageDescription property.
4. I ran the app on my iPhone.
5. I tapped the Start button.
6. iOS presented the microphone permission prompt. I tapped Allow.
7. I spoke some words.
8. I tapped the Stop button.
9. Using Devices and Simulators I downloaded the app’s container.
10. And looked in the container to confirm that there way a tmp-xyz.wav file and that it recorded the words I spoke in step 7.
11. I stopped the app.

IMPORTANT I know very little about audio recording, so no one should view the code below as a recommend for how to do it. Rather, I cobbled together just enough code for me to run this test.

I then repeated the test on my Mac:

1. I changed the run destination to My Mac (Designed for iPad).
2. I ran the app.
3. I clicked the Start button.
4. macOS presented the microphone permission prompt. I clicked Allow.
5. I spoke some words.
6. I clicked the Stop button.
7. I used the Finder to preview the recording. It contained the words I spoke in step 5.
8. I stopped the app.

Finally, I checked that my app was present in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone.

Please try repeating my steps to see if you get the same result. Specifically, I’m curious as to whether this works with a new app whereas it fails with your main app. That’s not uncommon on the Mac, because macOS is much more complex than iOS, so it can end up caching state about an app that then causes problems in the future. So your main app may well work on a ‘clean’ machine, even though it fails on your main work Mac.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

final class MyViewController: UIViewController {

    … other stuff …

    var recordQ: AVAudioRecorder? = nil
    
    func start() {
        guard self.recordQ == nil else { return }
        do {
            print("will start")

            let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
            try session.setCategory(.record, options: [])
            try session.setActive(true)

            let tempURL = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
            let fileURL = tempURL.appendingPathComponent("tmp-\(UUID()).wav")
            let settings: [String: Any] = [
                AVFormatIDKey: Int(kAudioFormatLinearPCM),
                AVLinearPCMIsNonInterleaved: false,
                AVSampleRateKey: 44_100.0,
                AVNumberOfChannelsKey: 1,
                AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey: 16
            ]
            let recorder = try AVAudioRecorder(url: fileURL, settings: settings)
            let didStart = recorder.record()
            guard didStart else {
                throw NSError(domain: NSOSStatusErrorDomain, code: Int(ENOTTY))
            }
            self.recordQ = recorder
            print("did start, file: \(fileURL.path)")
        } catch {
            print("did not start, error: \(error)")
        }
    }
    
    func stop() {
        guard let recorder = self.recordQ else { return }
        print("will stop")
        recorder.stop()
        self.recordQ = nil
        print("did stop")
    }
}