Use your iPhone as a PC microphone
Updated September 14, 2026 · 4 min read
Your iPhone has a better microphone than most budget USB mics — and certainly a better one than your laptop. The catch is that Windows has no idea an iPhone can be a microphone. There's no mode for it in iOS, and pairing it as a Bluetooth headset gives you narrowband telephone audio.
Micstream fixes that with a driver on the PC side. The Windows client installs a small audio driver that creates a real input device, and the iPhone app streams your microphone into it over Wi-Fi. To Windows, a microphone called "Micstream" is plugged in — every app from Zoom to OBS treats it like hardware. The audio stays 32-bit float at 48 kHz the whole way and goes directly from the phone to your PC on your local network; it never touches a server.
You need three things:
- An iPhone running iOS 18 or newer
- A PC running Windows 10 or 11 (or Linux — see below)
- Both on the same Wi-Fi network
Setup
- 1
Install the Windows client
Download the installer and run it. It sets up the desktop client and the audio driver — the part that creates the "Micstream" input device. Your existing audio devices aren't touched; this only adds one.
- 2
Install the iPhone app
Get it on the App Store. No account, no sign-up.
- 3
Allow the two permissions
On first launch iOS asks for Local Network access — that's how the app finds your PC, so allow it. On the first connect it asks for the microphone. If you dismissed either prompt, both live under SettingsAppsMicstream.
- 4
Connect
Open the app with the Windows client running. Your PC shows up within a few seconds — tap it to start streaming. There's no address to type and no pairing code.
- 5
Pick Micstream as the input
Open the microphone settings of the app you're using and select Micstream. To make it the default for everything, open SettingsSystemSound in Windows and select it under Input.
Discord and OBS have their own device pickers that override the Windows default, so select Micstream there directly — there are short guides for Discord and OBS.
Lock the screen, keep streaming
Once a stream is running you can lock the iPhone or switch to another app; capture continues in the background and the orange microphone indicator stays in the status bar. Battery drain is small — a long meeting is no problem.
What does stop the stream: an incoming call, Siri, or an alarm. iOS hands the microphone to them, and Micstream deliberately doesn't grab it back afterwards — a microphone that silently reactivates itself is not something you want. Open the app and tap your PC again.
AirPods and other Bluetooth mics
By default the app records with the iPhone's built-in microphone, which is usually the best choice: standard Bluetooth headsets send a narrowband telephone-quality signal. If you'd rather use your headset anyway, switch it on under SettingsMicrophone in the app. AirPods with the H2 chip on iOS 26 or newer record in high quality; anything else falls back to the headset profile.
Troubleshooting
The app can't find your PC
Nine times out of ten this is the Local Network permission. If the app shows an orange banner saying Local Network access is off, tap it — or go to SettingsPrivacy & SecurityLocal Network and enable Micstream. Otherwise check that the iPhone is on Wi-Fi, not mobile data, and on the same network as the PC: guest networks usually isolate devices from each other, and Windows Firewall may be blocking the client — allow it on private networks when prompted.
Micstream isn't in the input device list
The device is created by the driver, so if it's missing entirely, the driver install didn't finish — run the installer again. If the device exists but an app keeps using another mic, select Micstream in that app and restart it — many apps only scan for devices at startup.
The stream stopped on its own
A call, Siri, or an alarm took the microphone (see above), or the Wi-Fi dropped. Open the app and reconnect. If it keeps happening at the same spot, it's the network — move closer to the router.
Audio is choppy
That's the network, not the mic. Wi-Fi latency rises with distance, interference, and whatever else is using the connection — a download on the PC, a video on the iPhone. Move closer to the router or pause the heavy traffic.
Common questions
Can I connect over USB or Lightning?
Not on iPhone — the iOS app is Wi-Fi only. On a decent network the latency is low enough for calls, streaming, and recording; USB is currently an Android-only option.
Is it free?
The free tier is ad-supported: watching a rewarded ad grants streaming time. A Pro subscription removes the ads and limits.
Does it work on iPad?
The app is built for iPhone. On an iPad it installs and runs in iPhone compatibility mode.
Does it work with a Mac or Linux PC?
Linux: yes — the client registers a PipeWire virtual microphone, no driver needed. See the Linux setup guide. macOS is in development.
What's the actual audio quality?
32-bit floating point at 48 kHz through the whole pipeline. Nothing is downsampled or compressed below that, so what the iPhone's microphone captures is what arrives in Windows.
Both downloads are free: