Audacity not Accessing "microphone" on my Apple computer

Audacity Problem

My old computer and OS allowed me to record into Audacity. My new computer does not do so. That is because I cannot get Audacity added to the list of apps that can access my “microphone.” I have other audio apps that have such access, but Audacity is not one of them.

According to Apple: With the release of macOS 10.14 (Mojave), Apple has released a new security feature which requires the user to manually “Allow” apps to access the microphone. When opening Audacity for the first time I should be presented with the message:

“Audacity” would like to access the microphone. Then, I would have to click on” OK” (rather than on “Don’t Allow.”)

But that little message did not, or does not, pop up the first time, or at any time, that I open Audacity.

The article goes on to say: If you have clicked “Don’t Allow” for any reason (which I did not do), you will need to open the system Preferences and go to Security and Privacy to manually allow the app to access audio input. Once you’re in Security and Privacy, click on the Privacy tab, then select Microphone on the left-hand side and select the apps you wish to access the microphone.

The problem is, the only app that I see on the list is Garage Band. I don’t see Audacity on the list simply because, when I have Audacity opened, and I click on “Rescan Audio Devices,” it does not add Audacity to the list – as it should.

To be perfectly clear:

I went to the Apple icon >
System Preferences >
Security & Privacy >
Microphone > And I saw that only Garage Band is on the list of apps that access the microphone.

Then, I opened Audacity and went to:
Transport >
Rescan Audio Devices >
To attempt to have my computer see Audacity – but it did not work. Upon my return to my computers System Preferences, etc., Audacity was listed as I had hoped for, and as it should.

I have since found two other applications, one of which is called Ocenaudio, that work quite well – including being added to the list that has access to my “microphone,” but I would prefer being able to use Audacity, as it is the app that I am accustomed to using.

So, I need to know when Audacity is going to address the problem. Thank you.

Patrick Ferreri (224) 858-7672 or pat1960pat@gmail.com

Which version of Audacity do you have?

Hi,
did you try to go to system preferences > security > protection (or something like that - I only have it in German). There you should find microphone on the left side. If you click it, you will find the Audacity-icon on the right side. It needs to have a checkmark. Restart Audacity then and you will be able to use the microphone as well as other devices (e.g. USB turntable or tape recorder).
I tried out diversal things and needed 5 hours to find that problem!
Regards,
Axel