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[Bug]: macOS: microphone recording only starts after a system sound is played #1173
Description
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Describe the bug
Description
On macOS, microphone recording in OpenScreen does not start when a recording begins. The microphone only starts capturing audio after any system sound is played (for example, a notification or UI sound). After that, microphone audio continues to be recorded even when the system sound is turned off.
This suggests that OpenScreen may not correctly initialize or activate the microphone audio session when recording starts.
Environment
- OS: macOS 26
- Device: Mac mini M4, 24 GB RAM
- OpenScreen version: 2.0
- Microphone: logitec c270
Steps to reproduce
- Close all apps that may use the microphone.
- Restart the audio daemon with
sudo killall coreaudiod. - Open OpenScreen.
- Start a screen recording with microphone input enabled.
- Speak into the microphone without playing any system sound.
- Stop the recording and check the audio track.
Expected behavior
The microphone should be captured from the beginning of the recording, without requiring a system sound to activate the audio session.
Actual behavior
The microphone is silent until a system sound is played. After that, microphone recording works normally for the rest of the session.
Additional information
Selecting the microphone explicitly in OpenScreen does not fix the issue. The issue may be related to macOS audio session initialization.
Expected behavior
The microphone should be captured from the very beginning of the recording, without requiring any system sound to be played first.
OpenScreen should initialize and activate the selected microphone input as soon as the recording starts.
To Reproduce
No response
Screenshots
No response
OS
macOS
OS Version
26.6.2
Other OS
No response
Browser
None
Browser Version
No response
Other Browser
No response
Device Type
None
Other Device
No response
Additional context
No response
Activity
EtienneLescot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
Same bug reported again in #1322 by the same author: it still reproduces on 2.1.0 with an external webcam microphone and system audio enabled.
amadel666 commentedon Oct 21, 2026
This bug persisted in version 2.1.2
Jpss1230 commentedon Oct 21, 2026
Thank you for creating and maintaining OpenScreen! I really appreciate your work on this free, open-source tool.
I am using OpenScreen 2.1.1 on macOS and experiencing an intermittent audio issue:
Expected behavior: enabling system audio should capture both audio sources without losing microphone audio.
I found this issue and wondered whether my symptoms could have the same root cause. I have not confirmed whether playing a system sound during recording restores the microphone, and I have not yet retested on 2.1.2.
Is there a known fix or reliable workaround? Please let me know if this should be reported as a separate issue.
Thank you again! Reliable audio recording is especially important for making tutorial videos.
noveogroup-amorgunov commentedon Oct 22, 2026
The same problem on Mac 26.5.2 . If I turn off system audio capture, microphone audio records normally.
OpenScreen 2.1.2
Electron 41.2.1 · Chromium 146.0.7680.188 · Node 24.14.1
darwin arm64 · dmg
https://getopenscreen.com
marcgabe15 commentedon Oct 23, 2026
Was able to reproduce this issue and thank you for the steps! Working on a fix as soon as I can
EtienneLescot commentedon Oct 23, 2026
Thanks @marcgabe15, great that you can reproduce it! The two latest reports narrow the trigger to system audio capture being ON. Happy to review a PR when it's ready.
fix(audio): start the macOS system-audio tap after the microphone
github-actions commentedon Oct 24, 2026
Fixed by #1374 and merged into
main.This change is assigned to the
Next Releaserelease milestone and is not necessarily available in the latest downloadable desktop release yet. It is currently marked asstatus: pending releaseuntil a packaged release containing it is published.mika76 commentedon Oct 28, 2026
oof this was confusing 😆
EtienneLescot commentedon Oct 29, 2026
Moved into
v2.2.0as part of the pre-release cut.