Voice Memo not picking up audio from built in Speaker

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Voice Memo not picking up audio from built in Speaker

Voice memo is no longer picking up audio from built in speaker. In sound setting, Macbookpro microphone is selected. Is is showing the microphone picking up audio on the setting page. Under Privacy and Security - Microphone, Voice Memo does not show up.

I have tried tccutil reset Microphone com.apple.VoiceMemos and sudo killall coreaudiod in terminal to no avail. I have even tried moving ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.VoiceMemos.shared and letting voice memo create a new folder, but it just crashes if I do that. Replace the old folder and I get back to the non-crashing non-functional app. I have OS 26.1

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 22, 2025 4:30 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 6, 2025 9:06 AM in response to Tiny_Cabin

To trouble shoot further you can:

—A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.

unplug all non-essential peripherals when testing

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

*** (if you are using a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries— connect the charging cable, this will make the wired keyboard successful Safe Boot your Mac.)

ref: Voice Memos User Guide for Mac

ref: Create a recording on Mac

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