The record button isn't working

If the record button does nothing, the microphone is almost certainly being blocked somewhere outside Teachee.

There are two independent layers, and this is the detail that wastes people’s afternoons: fixing one while the other is still blocking produces no visible change, so it looks like the fix failed. Do both, in order.

   You press record
         │
         ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐
   │ Chrome: is this │──── blocked ──▶ nothing happens
   │ site allowed?   │
   └────────┬────────┘
            │ allowed
            ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐
   │ macOS: is Chrome│──── blocked ──▶ nothing happens
   │ allowed at all? │                 (identical symptom)
   └────────┬────────┘
            │ allowed
            ▼
        it records

Layer 1 — Chrome

Chrome grants microphone access per site.

1. Click the icon at the left of the address bar (a tune/sliders icon, or a padlock on older versions).
2. Find Microphone in the list.
3. Set it to Allow.
4. Reload the page.

Step four is not optional. A permission granted while the page is open does not apply retroactively to that page — it applies from the next load. A great many “I allowed it and it still doesn’t work” reports are this.

If Microphone is not listed at all, Chrome has never been asked. Press record once; if no prompt appears, it was previously denied and is now silently blocked — go to chrome://settings/content/microphone and check whether the site is under Not allowed.

Layer 2 — macOS

macOS blocks microphone access at the operating-system level, per application, regardless of what Chrome thinks. Chrome can believe it has permission and receive silence.

Current macOS:

1. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone
2. Turn on Google Chrome

Older macOS (System Preferences):

1. System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Microphone
2. Click the padlock at the bottom left and enter your password
3. Tick the box next to Google Chrome

Then quit Chrome entirely and reopen it — not just the tab. macOS only re-reads the permission when the application starts, so the change appears to do nothing until you restart.

If both are allowed and it still fails

Three things, in order of likelihood:

Another app is holding the microphone. Zoom, Teams, FaceTime and Discord can take exclusive hold of the input, particularly if the call has ended but the app is still running. Quit them and try again. This is the most common cause once permissions are correct — and it is easy to miss precisely because you are usually teaching over a video call at the time.

The wrong input device is selected. Chrome may be listening to a headset you disconnected an hour ago. Check the microphone dropdown in Chrome’s site settings and pick the device you are actually speaking into. Then test by speaking and watching for a level indicator.

You are not on HTTPS. Browsers only grant microphone access over a secure connection. On teachee.io this is a non-issue, but it is worth knowing if you ever hit it elsewhere.

Windows

The same two-layer structure applies:

• Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone
• Enable Microphone access, then Let desktop apps access your microphone

Chrome then needs restarting, for the same reason as on macOS.

A note on audio quality

Once recording works, one setting is worth changing for pronunciation work specifically — and it is in your video call software, not here.

Zoom and Meet apply aggressive noise suppression by default. It is excellent for a business call and harmful for teaching pronunciation, because it strips high-frequency energy, which is exactly where the sibilant contrasts live. A student’s /θ/ can be correct and arrive at your ear as /s/.

In Zoom, enable Original Sound for Musicians. In Meet, turn off noise cancellation. More on this and the rest of the setup in the online language teacher’s tool stack.