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Enable the microphone

Privacy & Security → Microphone · open only while you talk

Listen Orb opens the microphone when a listen starts and closes it when that listen ends. The orange Control Center indicator is honest: it is there while you are speaking, and gone when you are not. Nothing is recorded in the background.

macOS will not open the mic until Microphone is on for the app you launched. That is a different switch from Input Monitoring (Fn) and Accessibility (insert).

The short version

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, enable Listen Orb (or Terminal, if you started it from there), then quit and reopen that app.

Step by step

1. Start a listen so macOS can ask

   Hold Fn, click Listen in the menu bar, or hold the glowing orb. The first time, macOS may show a Microphone dialog. Choose Allow.

2. If it never asked, open the Microphone pane

   Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. Enable the row for Listen Orb. If you launched from Terminal or iTerm, enable that Terminal app instead.

3. Quit and reopen

   A Microphone change applies to the next launch. Quit from the menu bar and open Listen Orb again, then hold Fn.

What you should hear and see

On a MacBook or iMac, Listen Orb prefers the built-in microphone so AirPods and other Bluetooth headsets can stay in stereo instead of flipping into call mode. A Mac Studio or another machine without a built-in mic falls through to a Studio Display or USB input.

The overlay swells while the mic is open. A recorded chess-piece click can mark the start; turn that off with Sound on Fn in the menu bar if you want silence.

If something fails

• The overlay says the microphone is not available, or could not start. The permission is off, or it is on for the wrong app. Enable the binary you launched, then quit and reopen.
• A leftover row looks enabled. Replacing an unsigned build leaves a stale Listen Orb line. Remove every Listen Orb row under Microphone, then add /Applications/Listen Orb.app again.
• This website’s Hold to listen demo. That is the browser’s microphone permission, not the Mac app. Allow this site in the address-bar prompt or in Safari / Chrome settings for the site. The installed app never uses this page’s mic.
• You wanted the headset mic. The built-in mic is the default on purpose. Pass a device only if you mean to; the packaged app does not expose that switch in the menu.

First launch also needs an OpenAI API key. Without it, the mic can open and the overlay will still fail to connect.