Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

support.apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 405 posts

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#171

Post by JohnBooty »

0cVlTeIATBs wrote: post #164
jbj wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this comments reminds me about owning a mac and installing a github repo to allow mouse scrolling direction to not be tied to touch pad scrolling [edit] just following up, it was UnnaturalScrollWheels, which have been notarized: https://github.com/ther0n/UnnaturalScrollWheels/releases/tag...

I was surprised by needing to do this when switch to MacOS. So many things don't "just work" despite all that I've heard about it.

Overwhelmingly, it does "just work" as Apple intended.

However, it's often quite opinionated. So Apple's intended functionality may or may not jive with your preferences. This is neither a defense nor criticism of Apple, and it's not a defense or criticism of your preferences either.

I will point out that anecdotally, I don't hear too many people wanting their mouse's scrolling to work in the opposite direction as their trackpad. I think Apple's probably got well over 99% of the userbase covered with the defaults and opinions here. From a software/QA/UX perspective things get wild pretty quickly if you cover every < 1% use case.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#172

Post by hamburglar »

zamnos wrote: post #119
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have AirPods, but the experience still sucks with multiple devices. I have my phone, my laptop, my iPad, and two iPads for my kids, all on my account. I literally am unable to make my kid’s iPads forget my AirPods, because it is tied to the apple account. If I have the iPads forget them, it forgets them on all my devices. It is annoying as hell, I have to leave Bluetooth off on my kids iPads.

Umm, your children's accounts are on children accounts and not literally your account though, right? Because that could cause problems down the line. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-a-childs-devic...

“Ummm” aside, this is not at all obvious. I have an iPad from before I had kids. When setting it up, I was asked to enter my Apple ID, so I did. Then came kids and a new use for this iPad, and a second iPad, which obviously needed the same apps, and a third. No, it never occurred to me to set up appleids specifically for toddlers. It did eventually prompt me to set up a new “iPads” appleid when I switched from android to iPhone and suddenly discovered that all my text messages were being delivered to my children. But the ipads are family devices, not per-child, and if apple thinks I’m going to give each kid an appleid, they aren’t paying attention to how people actually want to use their devices.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#173

Post by mgkimsal »

leipert wrote: post #166
mgkimsal wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsure if I would love or hate that, but it might be more natural than the iphone/airpods/mac "incoming call" fiasco I face regularly. Airpods/MacOS - listening to background music. Phone call comes in... VERY LOUD facetime 'ring' announces on mac that I'm getting a phone call. Pick up phone to answer it... holy tamole - it's minimum 8 seconds between clicking 'answer' and... eventually airpods switching over to phon…

Honest question: Why don’t you answer the call from the Mac? Or do you have that continuity feature disabled?

I usually want to walk away from the computer. I sit at the computer enough already. If a call comes in, I want - sometimes need - to be able to walk away.

The long/short of it is, both devices 'know' about the airpods. Call comes in to phone, during an answer, having airpods switch to the phone quickly - like, under 2 seconds - is what I'm expecting. I'm not sure that's an unreasonable expectation (maybe it is?). At some point, I would think, given all the neural-core-AI stuff in the phones and ecosystem, it should know that I always switch airpods to phone to talk... maybe do it automatically at some point?

The phone now knows my daily routine, giving me traffic updates 10 minutes before I normally leave to hit the gym. Yet... the 'fill in your email' prompts on the phone suggest 'my' email address is something I have not actively used in 11 years. I don't understand the 'why' behind some of these things. If the device is going to learn... when will it learn I don't use that email address any longer? Obviously separate issue, but... as has gone on for decades - we get loads of new features, but often little attention paid to clean up and refine last year's new features.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#174

Post by cortesoft »

zamnos wrote: post #119
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have AirPods, but the experience still sucks with multiple devices. I have my phone, my laptop, my iPad, and two iPads for my kids, all on my account. I literally am unable to make my kid’s iPads forget my AirPods, because it is tied to the apple account. If I have the iPads forget them, it forgets them on all my devices. It is annoying as hell, I have to leave Bluetooth off on my kids iPads.

Umm, your children's accounts are on children accounts and not literally your account though, right? Because that could cause problems down the line. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-a-childs-devic...

Not sure if you have kids, but the devices didn’t start out as being theirs. It was my iPad, they started using it more as they got older, and eventually I got a new one for me. I should set it up properly, but it happened gradually and I have not gotten around to changing it… and now all the apps and accounts and settings are tied to my Apple ID.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#175

Post by cortesoft »

jmbwell wrote: post #128
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have AirPods, but the experience still sucks with multiple devices. I have my phone, my laptop, my iPad, and two iPads for my kids, all on my account. I literally am unable to make my kid’s iPads forget my AirPods, because it is tied to the apple account. If I have the iPads forget them, it forgets them on all my devices. It is annoying as hell, I have to leave Bluetooth off on my kids iPads.

Creating AppleIDs for your kids through Family Sharing and using those AppleIDs on those devices would solve this. You as organizer can view and manage all devices; all purchases are paid through your account (but are tied to the purchaser), and you can set restrictions and require permissions for many activities (including in-app purchases). Plus, all the bluetooth devices remain per-user. And it keeps your stuff ou…

I should do this for my kids, yes, but it is still annoying just for my own devices. I don’t want to use my AirPods on all my devices, just one… why can’t I do that?

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#176

Post by pulse7 »

Please, just add a physical switch to disconnect the microphone and camera and even battery! Why the hell do we need special chips to do this? Every chip can be hacked... internet hackers can't turn on physical switches...

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#178

Post by WalterBright »

tantalor wrote: post #148
WalterBright wrote: post #117

The microphone/camera disconnect must be a physical switch that physically disconnects it. Absolutely not a software switch.

... isn't that what is described here? What is the point of this comment.

I misunderstood. Sorry.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#179

Post by tagyro »

mrinterweb wrote: post #161
tagyro wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is actually meant to keep the connection to a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse when using the computer in clamshell mode.

It would be great if certain types of bluetooth devices could remain connected. Physical input devices only would likely be a good default. There is little reason, IMO, for speaker connections to be active. In clamshell mode, I would expect all bluetooth connections to be active, but while suspended, please drop nonessential connections. Being able to override the default disconnect rules per device would be ideal.

> There is little reason, IMO, for speaker connections to be active.

A few comments down:

> @asveikau: I think you should be able to play music while the lid is closed. That seems like a reasonable use case.

Also, wouldn't having a different behaviour, based on specific classes of devices, create more confusion for users?

Oh, and, all together now: Bluetooth sucks!

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#180

Post by lovehashbrowns »

babypuncher wrote: post #115
lovehashbrowns wrote: post #62

They have this feature but closing the lid on a MacBook or even putting it to sleep allows Bluetooth devices to stay connected. Heck, a MacBook even while in sleep mode will connect to Bluetooth devices. As far as I can see, this requires a third-party app to fix. Can an application still use the microphone on a Bluetooth device that’s connected?

Wouldn't this be because BT perhipherals like mice and keyboards need to be able to wake the machine up? Also FindMy relies on BT to work. An option to disable BT when the lid is closed might be nice, but it shouldn't be the default. I think most people do not want that.

I can understand that if I’m just closing the lid but my MacBook shouldn’t be connecting to BT devices when it’s in sleep mode. My Windows laptop won’t do that when it’s in sleep mode. This feels counterintuitive to me. There should at least be a setting where I can disable that without having to install a third-party app, y’know? ‘Cause I can understand for the need to keep a device connected if I’m just closing the lid, but the laptop isn’t going into sleep mode.

It’s also really funny how fast all my Apple devices “steal” a BT connection. Both my mb air and my tablet beat all my windows machines at taking over a BT device no matter what I try. I should try to race my tablet and the Air to see which one wins.

Post reply on HN