Microphone permission issues

The first time Confidant tries to record, your operating system asks if Confidant can access your microphone. If you said no — or if the permission was revoked later — recordings will fail or capture silence.

How to grant permission (macOS)

1. Open System Settings
2. Go to Privacy & Security → Microphone
3. Find Confidant in the list
4. Toggle it on
5. macOS may require quitting and relaunching Confidant — close it fully and reopen

If you don't see Confidant in the list at all, it means the app has never asked for permission. Start a recording — macOS will prompt the first time.

How to grant permission (Windows)

1. Open Settings
2. Go to Privacy → Microphone
3. Make sure Microphone access is on
4. Scroll to Let desktop apps access your microphone and turn it on
5. (Optional) Find Confidant in the list of apps and confirm it's enabled

Windows can also block mic access at the hardware level — check if your laptop has a physical mic-mute switch or function key.

How to know if it's a permission problem

Symptoms that suggest a permission issue specifically (vs other audio problems):

• Recording starts but the audio level meter never moves, even when you're talking right at the mic
• macOS shows the orange "in use" mic indicator in the menu bar but Confidant captures silence
• A clear OS-level error when starting a recording ("Confidant doesn't have permission to use the microphone")

Other audio problems (wrong device, muted hardware, broken cable) look different. See No audio detected if granting permission doesn't fix it.

"Microphone privacy is required" message

If macOS shows this on first record, click OK to grant permission. If you accidentally clicked Don't Allow, the path back is via System Settings (above). macOS doesn't re-ask once you've denied.

Why does Confidant need the mic?

Recording sessions, obviously. The audio is captured to your local disk and transcribed locally — none of it leaves your computer. macOS doesn't know that, though, so the permission prompt is the same as it would be for any other app that uses the mic.

Reverting permission

If you want to revoke Confidant's mic access (e.g. you're worried about a misclicked Record button when not in session), turn off the toggle in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. Confidant will fail to record until you re-enable it. Audio capture is opt-in to that level.