Narrator guide

How to allow microphone access in your browser

Say no once and your browser will not ask again. Here is how to turn a site's microphone back on, browser by browser, in about thirty seconds.

It is an easy click to make by accident. A prompt appears mid-task, you dismiss it, and from then on the site is on a list you never meant to put it on. What surprises most people is what happens next: nothing. The site cannot ask you a second time, because browsers do not let a page reopen a question you have already answered.

So the fix lives in the browser, and it starts in a place that feels backwards. Press the button that needs your microphone first, and let it fail. That refused attempt is what makes your browser put a crossed-out microphone in the address bar, and that mark is what you click. Go looking for it before you have tried, and it will not be there.

Find your browser below. Every one of these takes under a minute.

Chrome

Chrome marks the address bar with a crossed-out microphone, but only once a page has asked and been refused.

Press the button on the page that needs your microphone. Nothing appears to happen, and that is the point: the attempt is what makes Chrome show its mark.
Click the crossed-out microphone at the right-hand end of the address bar.
Choose to always allow this site to use your microphone, then select Done.
Reload the page and press the button again.

No mark in the address bar? Paste chrome://settings/content/microphone into it, find the site under "Not allowed to use your microphone", click it, and set Microphone to Allow.

Use your camera and microphone in Chrome

Edge

Edge is built on the same engine as Chrome and keeps its site permissions behind the icon to the left of the address.

Press the button on the page that needs your microphone.
Click the padlock or the crossed-out microphone at the left of the address bar, then choose Permissions for this site.
Set Microphone to Allow.
Reload the page and press the button again.

The full list lives at edge://settings/content/microphone, where every site you have blocked is grouped under "Not allowed".

Microsoft: microphone access in Edge

Brave

Brave is Chromium underneath, so the setting is the one Chrome uses, reached through the site icon in the address bar.

Press the button on the page that needs your microphone.
Click the icon at the left of the address bar, then choose Site settings.
Set Microphone to Allow.
Reload the page and press the button again.

Or go straight to brave://settings/content/microphone. Setting the global control to "Ask every time" will not revive a site you blocked individually: that site has its own entry, and it is the one to change.

Brave: how do I change site permissions?

Arc

Arc is Chromium too, so the underlying setting is the same. What is different is that Arc keeps the address out of the way, so the crossed-out microphone may not be anywhere you can click.

Open a new tab and go to arc://settings/content/microphone.
Find the site under "Not allowed to use your microphone".
Click it and set Microphone to Allow.
Go back to the tab you were narrating in and reload it.

Arc’s own site menu offers Allowed and Blocked and nothing in between, so this is a switch back rather than a reset. Arc has no help page of its own for microphone permissions; the Chrome instructions describe the same engine.

Safari

Safari keeps permissions in its own settings rather than in the address bar, and it will ask again if you let it.

With the site open, choose Safari in the menu bar, then Settings for This Website.
Set Microphone to Allow. Choosing Ask works too: it brings the prompt back the next time the site tries.
Reload the page and press the button again.

Every site you have answered for is listed under Safari, Settings, Websites, Microphone, which is where to go if the site is not currently open.

Apple: change Websites settings in Safari

Firefox

Firefox only makes a block permanent if "Remember this decision" was ticked when you refused. If it was not, pressing the button again brings the prompt straight back.

Press the button on the page that needs your microphone. If the prompt appears, choose Allow and you are finished.
If it does not, click the padlock at the left of the address bar.
Find "Use the Microphone", marked Blocked, and click the X beside it to clear the permission.
Press the button again and choose Allow.

The same permissions are listed under Settings, Privacy and Security, Permissions, Microphone, with a Settings button that lets you change or remove any site.

Mozilla: manage your camera and microphone permissions

Your computer, not your browser

The browser is not the only thing that can say no. If the site says access is allowed and your level still never moves, the block is one layer down.

On a Mac, open System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Microphone, and make sure your browser is switched on.
On Windows, open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Microphone, and turn on both Microphone access and "Let apps access your microphone".
Quit your browser and reopen it. A browser that was denied at the system level usually needs a restart before it notices the change.

This is also worth checking when a microphone works in one app and not another: a system-level switch is per application, not per website.

Apple: control access to the microphone on Mac

Check that it worked before your next session

Allowing access and actually hearing something are two different things. Our free microphone test opens your input, shows a live level meter, and names the device it is listening to, so you can confirm the permission took and that the microphone you meant to use is the one producing sound. It runs entirely in your browser and records nothing.

Open the microphone test Test your mic properly next

Microphone permissions, answered

Why does the site not just ask me again?

Because you already answered. Once you refuse, browsers built on Chromium (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc) record that answer for the site and stop prompting, and there is no way for a page to bring the prompt back: the web deliberately gives sites no method for it, so that a site cannot nag you into a yes. The decision stays yours, which means it has to be changed in the browser rather than on the page. Firefox is the exception when "Remember this decision" was left unticked, and Safari will ask again if you set the site back to Ask.

Why is there no crossed-out microphone in my address bar?

Because nothing has asked yet. The mark appears when a page requests your microphone and is refused, not before, so the first move is always to press the button on the page and let it fail. If you have pressed it and still see no mark, your browser may be hiding the address bar, which is common in Arc: open the microphone settings page for your browser directly instead.

I allowed it and the page still says blocked.

Reload the page. Most browsers hand the new permission to a page only when it next asks, and a page that was refused earlier in the session may still be holding the old answer. If it persists, check the system-level microphone setting on your computer, and make sure another app, such as a call or a recording tool, is not holding the device open.

Why can I not see the names of my microphones before I allow access?

Browsers hide the names of your devices until a site has been granted access once, because the list of what you own is itself identifying. That is why a microphone picker can look empty, or show a single nameless entry, before you allow it. Allow access once and the real names appear.

Does allowing access mean the site can listen whenever it wants?

It means the site can open your microphone while you have it open, and your browser shows a recording indicator the whole time one is live. You can withdraw it at any moment in the same place you granted it. In PromptVO the microphone opens when you start narrating and closes when you stop, and you can see which input is live in the bar while you read.

Allow it once. Narrate all session.

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