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When you press your push-to-talk shortcut, your operating system opens the microphone capture path. This step causes a short delay. On wired and built-in microphones, the delay is too small to notice. On Bluetooth devices, the delay can cut off the first word or two of your dictation. Keep microphone warm removes this delay. The setting holds a silent, idle audio session open between recordings. The microphone is then ready when you press your shortcut.

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How it works

When the setting is on, HyperWhisper opens an idle capture session after each recording ends. The session stays open until the next recording starts. HyperWhisper does not store, process, or send the audio from this idle session. It discards the captured buffers as soon as they arrive. During a real recording, the idle session closes. It opens again when the recording stops.

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Turn on the setting

Open Settings → Sound. Turn on Keep microphone warm between recordings.The change takes effect immediately. A restart is not necessary.

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Trade-offs

When Keep microphone warm is on, macOS shows the orange microphone indicator in the menu bar all the time. The indicator stays on when you do not record. This is normal behavior. macOS shows the indicator when any app holds a capture session open.Bluetooth headsets can also stay in the lower-quality call audio profile between recordings. They do not go back to stereo mode. If headset audio quality is important outside of HyperWhisper (for example, for music), turn this setting off.
Turn the setting off in these conditions:
  • You want the orange microphone indicator to show only during real recordings.
  • You use Bluetooth headphones, and you want stereo quality between recordings.
  • You use battery power, and you want less background activity.

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Platform notes

  • The idle session uses AVCaptureSession with AVCaptureAudioDataOutput. HyperWhisper discards all sample buffers immediately.
  • HyperWhisper uses your current device selection. If you select a specific microphone in Settings → Sound, the idle session runs on that device.
  • If you change the input device while the setting is on, HyperWhisper starts the idle session again on the new device.
  • If you do not give microphone permission, the session does not start.