HotMicPress your AirPods stem and Google Meet's own mute button flips.
HotMic makes the gesture work in every app that never adopted Apple's mute API.
Free for 14 days from your first meeting, full features, no card. Device-level mute stays free.
Mute apps that lie to you are worse than no mute app.
Many AirPods mute utilities mute at the device level: your peers stop hearing you, but the meeting app has no idea. Google Meet keeps showing you as live while you say nothing, and its own mute button now disagrees with reality — two switches, each unaware of the other. That mismatch is exactly how hot-mic moments happen.
Where it can (Google Meet in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc or Chromium, and, with less testing so far, Microsoft Teams on the web), HotMic flips the meeting's own mute button instead. There is one mute state, and you, the meeting, and everyone on the call see the same one. Everywhere else it mutes at the device level, and the menu bar tells you so.
| Approach | What peers hear | What Meet shows |
|---|---|---|
| Device-level muters | Silence | "You're live" — wrong |
| HotMic in Meet (Chrome) | Silence | Muted — in sync |
How it works
Apple only delivers the AirPods stem-press to a process the system believes is handling a call's audio. HotMic runs exactly that kind of audio unit — but every sample it receives is rendered and immediately discarded, and it only runs while another app is already using your microphone. Outside meetings it is dormant, so it doesn't pull your AirPods into low-quality phone-call audio. The one exception is a short practice step in setup, which you start yourself.
Once HotMic has the gesture, it mutes through the best route available:
- In-app sync — the HotMic for Meet & Teams extension (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Chromium) flips the meeting tab's own mute button, and changes made in the tab sync back. Google Meet is verified. Microsoft Teams on the web works through the same extension but has had less testing, and personal Teams in a language other than English isn't detected yet. The Teams Mac app handles the stem press itself.
- Virtual headset — HotMic adds a "HotMic Headset" that Google Meet can pair with as a call-control headset (the same mechanism a Jabra or Poly headset uses), so Meet flips its own mute button. You connect it once in Meet's settings. macOS asks you to allow HotMic under Accessibility, which HotMic uses only to create the headset. This route runs on an Apple-approval-gated system capability granted to HotMic.
- Device fallback — everywhere else, HotMic mutes every microphone on your Mac that can be silenced. Works with any app, though the app's own button won't change; this is the honest last resort, and the menu bar tells you which route you're on. You can turn it off in Settings.
HotMic leaves FaceTime, Zoom and the Microsoft Teams Mac app alone, so their own stem-press support keeps working (in Zoom, that's version 6.4 or later).
Keyboard shortcuts (mute, push-to-talk, Stealth Mute and go to meeting, each one changeable) and an on-screen mute indicator round it out. A few more things it does:
- Stealth Mute Pro — off by default. Mutes every mic on your Mac that can be silenced while the meeting still shows you unmuted. HotMic's menu bar icon and on-screen indicator still show you as muted. ⌃⌥⇧M turns it on or off.
- Push-to-talk Pro — pick a key, hold it to talk while you're muted, and let go to mute again.
- Pause music during meetings Pro — off by default. HotMic pauses Music or Spotify when a call starts and resumes what it paused when the call ends. macOS asks your permission first.
- Go to meeting — a menu item, or a shortcut you choose, brings your Meet or Teams tab and its window to the front.
- Join Meet muted — turn it on in the extension, and on Meet's pre-join screen it switches your mic (and, if you choose, your camera) off before you join.
- Ask before closing a meeting tab — during a Meet or Teams call, the extension has your browser confirm before the tab closes or reloads. On by default; you can turn it off.
Privacy
Your audio is rendered and discarded on your Mac. No audio ever leaves your device.
- Your audio is never recorded, stored, or transmitted. The audio unit exists only so macOS will deliver the mute gesture; the samples go nowhere.
- The app's only network activity is updates: a check (automatic if you agree, or when you ask) sends your IP address and app version to the update server — we say this because "no network at all" would be a lie, and we don't do those.
- No analytics, no cookies, no trackers — in the app or on this site.
- The app is sandboxed, and the virtual-headset capability it uses is individually reviewed and granted by Apple.
The full policy is short and readable: Privacy policy.
One price, yours forever.
Everything is included for 14 days, counted from your first meeting (the first time another app uses your mic), no card. When it ends, HotMic keeps working for free with device-level mute and the mute shortcut; a license adds: Meet's own mute button following your press (through the browser extension or the HotMic Headset; Teams on the web too, through the extension), Stealth Mute, push-to-talk, and pausing your music during meetings. No subscription — you buy it once.
| License | Who it's for | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | One person, all the Macs they own or control. | $19 one-time | Buy Personal |
| Team 5-pack | Five seats on one key, with an invoice your finance team will accept. | $49 one-time | Buy 5-pack |
| Team 20 seats | Twenty seats on one key. | $199 one-time | Buy 20 seats |
Purchases are handled by Paddle as merchant of record — they take care of VAT and invoices worldwide. Licenses are perpetual for the versions they cover.
Get HotMic
Requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later and AirPods (or the mute shortcut, which works with any microphone). Meet and Teams sync uses the HotMic for Meet & Teams browser extension, which HotMic helps you add, in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc or Chromium. In other browsers, HotMic mutes at the device level instead.
Your 14-day trial starts with your first meeting, not at install. No account, no card, no sign-up.