How to Enable Microphone Access for ChatGPT in Chrome (and Fix Common Issues)

You've installed a voice extension, clicked the microphone button, and... nothing. No transcription, no response, just silence. Sound familiar?

When voice control isn't working in ChatGPT on desktop, the culprit is almost always Chrome microphone permissions or a conflicting extension. The good news: these are easy to fix once you know where to look.

Step 1: Check site permissions (the fastest fix)

Most of the time, this is all you need:

1. Open chatgpt.com
2. Click the site controls icon (the small icon left of the URL bar)
3. Find Microphone and set it to Allow

If you accidentally clicked "Block" when Chrome first asked for permission, this is where you undo that mistake. Takes about three seconds.

Step 2: Check Chrome's global microphone settings

If the site permission looks fine, dig a level deeper into Chrome's settings:

Chrome → Settings → Privacy & security → Site settings → Microphone

Two things to verify:

• Your correct microphone is selected (especially important if you use external mics or headsets)
• chatgpt.com isn't sitting in the "Blocked" list

If ChatGPT got blocked at some point, it'll stay blocked until you manually remove it.

Step 3: Check your operating system permissions

Chrome can only use your microphone if your OS allows it. Here's where to look:

• macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → make sure Chrome is allowed
• Windows: Settings → Privacy → Microphone → enable "Allow desktop apps to access your microphone" and verify Chrome has access

This step catches a lot of people who recently updated their OS or restored from a backup.

Step 4: Hunt for conflicting extensions

Here's a sneaky one: if you have multiple dictation, voice, or audio-recording extensions installed, they can fight over microphone access. The result is usually that nobody wins.

To diagnose:

• Disable voice-related extensions one by one
• Reload ChatGPT after each change
• See which one was causing the conflict

Extension conflicts are extremely common, especially if you've experimented with a few different tools.

Step 5: The classic browser fixes

Sometimes Chrome just needs a reset. Try these in order:

• Reload the tab (Cmd+R or Ctrl+R)
• Close other tabs that might be using the microphone (video calls, other voice apps)
• Restart Chrome entirely

It's not glamorous, but "turn it off and on again" works more often than anyone likes to admit.

Recommended setup once it's working

Once your microphone is cooperating, a few settings will make the experience much smoother:

• Use push-to-talk — Prevents accidental recordings and gives you explicit control
• Set your speech language — Improves transcription accuracy, especially for non-English speakers
• Add custom replacements — Names, technical terms, and company jargon that the default speech recognition mangles

For more on optimizing your voice setup, see our complete guide to Voice Control for ChatGPT in Chrome.

Still not working?

If you've tried everything and voice still isn't working:

• Check if other websites can access your microphone (Google Meet, etc.)
• Try a different browser to isolate whether it's a Chrome-specific issue
• Make sure you don't have any privacy software blocking microphone access

Ready to try it out?

Install Voice Control for ChatGPT and start talking to your AI.

Once you're set up, explore our 7 voice productivity workflows to get the most out of voice control.