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Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

support.apple.com

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Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#341

Post by eyelidlessness »

dvirsky wrote: post #67
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?

This has to be the most annoying thing in MacOS. My laptop, soundly sleeping in my backpack, takes over my bluetooth headphones all the time.

The number of issues like this that I hear about regularly from people who otherwise love their Apple hardware continually make me glad I’ve been a wired peripheral luddite, even as wired things with decent quality are increasingly hard to even find.

I don’t think I’d recommend the preference to anyone who doesn’t already/still share it. But it’s a blissful quiet.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#342

Post by kokekolo »

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?

bluesnooze.app is made to address that.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#343

Post by SamuelAdams »

zamnos wrote: post #340
SamuelAdams wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, so I primarily use Macbook Pro's that companies provide me. I work from home and use USB-C docks to connect the Macs to external displays, keyboards, and networking. In general, Windows 10 computers work on boot in clamshell mode. Drivers load, external USB devices are useful, displays work. On Apple devices, corporations *must* enable FileVault, a full disk encryption utility, to meet some compliance standards…

Thanks for responding. Even if you don't deal with PII datasets, I sure hope your windows laptop is also encrypted at rest. Just fyi, at least on my M1 MacBook, a regular, non-Displaylink (ie HDMI or Display Port connection) doesny require opening the laptop to login, even using an Bluetooth keyboard. I'm sure there's a usb-c hub that's your preferred form factor if you don't like the dongle-style breakout boxes.

Windows computers use BitLocker and somehow the very same dock works fine in clamshell mode.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#344

Post by samuria »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #336
edgartaor wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Its like companies are allergic to phisical switches.

Everything has a cost. Physical switches that are frequently used are among the first to fail. This is partly why iPhones got rid of the home button in lieu of Face ID. Now, macbooks automatically start up when the lid is opened - this saves an extra button press to the power button. Over the lifespan of the device this reduces wear and tear on common buttons significantly. What would be nice is physical switches tha…

I see what you are saying. But a switch to turn off/on the microphone would not be used as frequently as a home button. This is why Apple still has the ring/silent switch on the iPhone. This was introduced with the first iPhone and still exists today.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#345

Post by mgkimsal »

givinguflac wrote: post #279
mgkimsal wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"settings" was vague. I looked in system settings - nothing there. Apparently, it's a 'facetime' setting? Will this make switching 'audio from mac via airpods' to 'audio from iphone via airpods' any faster?

You should be able to tap the speakerphone icon on your iPhone, choose AirPods, and they’ll switch immediately in my experience

“Immediately” is not the word. As the phone is answered, it’s trying to automatically switch. Pressing that key while it’s in the process of auto switch just confuses it, and typically stops the switch process altogether. Then you have to do it again.

Fwiw, this seemed to work smoothly two years ago. And then… updates. AirPod firmware updates. iPhone updates. macOS updates. Nothing works the same as it did 2 years ago for maybe … 2 months or so. And there’s no going back. :(

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#346

Post by lmm »

taneq wrote: post #317
mgkimsal wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I (and many others) I think still have some fond memories of Snow Leopard, marketed as 'bug fix' release. That feels like the last time there was a united push to polish up existing stuff without throwing in 'new' things.

This is one of those lessons that we as a software dev community seem unable to absorb. Polish is universally better received than flaky new features, and the releases we view most fondly are the ones that are fast and reliable, and yet we never seem capable of holding off on the new features to fix existing pain points.

> Polish is universally better received than flaky new features, and the releases we view most fondly are the ones that are fast and reliable

It's far from universal. Most users never expect to understand their software in the first place, and so put a lot more value on new features. If anything I'd say developers put too much effort into polish, since we're the very small demographic that actually appreciates it.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#347

Post by Godel_unicode »

shortcake27 wrote: post #257
tagyro wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...and they could make it so it stays on only of there's an external display connected Not always, my monitor goes to sleep and turns off. At this point, macOS should turn Bluetooth off? How would I wake the computer then? I would have to open it. > Find My would not be able to find and more importantly report a location. That might be another reason why Bluetooth stays on. On a laptop, I'd rather have Find My work…

> Not always, my monitor goes to sleep and turns off. At this point, macOS should turn Bluetooth off? How would I wake the computer then? I would have to open it. So I’m not sure about turning off bluetooth entirely, but waking via bluetooth should be turned off when the laptop is closed without a display attached. There is no use case for waking via bluetooth without a display.

> There is no use case for

There are a ton, computers are incredibly useful devices.

If I close the screen I can play music out of those speakers for a pretty long time. And if I can sleep/wake from a Bluetooth keyboard when I’m not using it, I can stretch that into a long weekend.

…or at least I can on Windows where this is possible.

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#348

Post by desro »

mikepurvis wrote: post #291
highwaylights wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Would you like to enter the password before or after I check in the back to see if we have any latex gloves left, sir?”

Doesn't look like Filevault has a duress option— otherwise it'd be pretty nice to have a separate password that boots you to a dummy partition showing a fresh desktop install with apparently nothing on it. For bonus points, you could have the dummy OS kernel-patched so that it doesn't even show the other partitions as existing, and just pretends it's occupying the whole disk with mostly empty space. "That computer? O…

When both FileVault and Guest account is enabled, logging into the guest account boots you you into a basically Safari-only sandbox.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-guest-user-s...

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#349

Post by [deleted] »

asveikau wrote: post #230
exitb wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a different topic really. There are tools that can prevent going to sleep when the lid is closed with no peripherals attached. When not used, most users would expect for the laptop to go to sleep, even if it’s playing something at the time. What this is about is engaging Bluetooth devices while asleep, which doesn’t make any practical sense.

> When not used, most users would expect for the laptop to go to sleep I think part of the problem here is that defining "in use" is actually very difficult, and it's literally something where two different users (or even the same user at different times) could have different expectations for the same circumstance as defined in code.

[deleted]

Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)

#350

Post by NavinF »

rrauenza wrote: post #324
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?

Isn't this also how thieves know there is a MacBook in a car? They scan for telltale signals? https://www.wired.com/story/bluetooth-scanner-car-thefts/

I despise articles like this that have zero technical information. Wasted 5 minutes confirming that I can see my macbook's BLE advertisements using the TI sensortag app on iOS, but it disappears as soon as I close the lid. Another nothingburger.
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