Microphone passthrough for remote Macs
Speak into a Mac
that isn't in the room.
Remote desktop forwards your screen, your keyboard and your mouse. It doesn't forward your voice. RelayMic does — as a real system microphone on the Mac you're controlling, so dictation, Zoom and everything else simply find it in the input list.
peer-to-peer
Simulated waveform — but that lag between the two meters is the real one: your voice arrives about as fast as it would on a phone call.
Why you couldn't find this already
Every remote tool forwards a screen. None of them carry a voice to a Mac.
Windows has had microphone redirection since RDP shipped it — one line in a config file. The moment the machine on the other end is a Mac, the feature is gone from every tool on the market. Not hidden in a menu. Not there.
| Remote into a Mac with | Screen, keyboard, mouse | Your microphone |
|---|---|---|
| TeamViewer | Yes | No — uses the Mac's own mic |
| AnyDesk | Yes | No |
| Parsec | Yes | No |
| RustDesk | Yes | No |
| Jump Desktop | Yes | No |
| macOS Screen Sharing | Yes | No |
| Microsoft RDP (and the far end is Windows) | Yes | Yes — built in, and it stops at Windows |
| RelayMic | Leaves that to your remote tool | Yes — as a system input device |
TeamViewer's own community threads confirm a remote session captures audio from the remote machine's microphone, not from yours; the feature request for transmitting your local mic is still open. RelayMic doesn't replace your remote desktop tool — it runs beside whichever one you already use.
Setup, in order
Install once on the Mac. After that it's a six-digit code.
Install on the Mac you remote into
One signed package. It sets up a virtual audio device and a small background service, then shows you a six-digit pairing code. Nothing to configure, no ports to forward.
Open relaymic.com wherever you are
A Windows laptop, an iPad, a borrowed machine in an office — any browser that has a microphone. Type the code. The connection is direct between the two devices.
Choose RelayMic as the input
In Zoom, in dictation, in Audacity, in whatever is running over there. To the Mac it is an ordinary microphone, so nothing needs to know RelayMic exists.
Where the work actually went
Sending audio is easy. The last 200 milliseconds are not.
RelayMic started as a tool its author needed daily, across three Macs, and every parameter below is there because something broke without it.
A jitter buffer sized for real networks
150 ms of target depth, measured rather than guessed. The 20 ms that sounds brilliant on a LAN turns into stuttering the first time you use hotel Wi-Fi.
Silence suppression deliberately off
DTX saves bandwidth by not sending silence. It also clips the front of a quietly spoken word, and dictation loses the first syllable. Speech doesn't need the savings.
Three recording taps for when it sounds wrong
Before processing, after the buffer, and read back out of the virtual device. "It sounded bad" becomes a waveform you can point at, on the segment where it happened.
Pricing
One subscription, three Macs, relay included.
- Up to 3 Macs on one account
- Unlimited sending devices
- Relay bandwidth included
- Cancel any time
- Everything in monthly
- Priority on new platform support
- Same 7-day trial first
- Regional pricing where it applies
Early access opens in batches. Everyone on the list gets the trial before being asked for a card, and founding subscribers keep their price.
Questions worth asking first
What it does, and what it deliberately doesn't.
Does it matter which remote desktop software I use?
No. RelayMic doesn't hook into TeamViewer, AnyDesk, Parsec, RustDesk, Jump Desktop or anything else — it carries audio on its own connection and presents a microphone on the Mac. Your remote tool keeps doing screen and input, unaware anything changed. You can also use RelayMic with no remote desktop tool at all.
Do I need to install anything on the device I'm speaking from?
No. The sending side is a web page. Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox on Windows, macOS, Linux, iPad or Android — whatever is in front of you, including machines you're not allowed to install software on.
What happens to my audio on the way?
It goes browser to Mac over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection — in most cases directly, without passing through us at all. When two networks refuse to connect directly, the stream falls back to a relay that forwards encrypted packets and stores none of them. We never hold recordings, and there is no server-side transcription.
What is the virtual audio device it installs?
BlackHole, an open-source macOS audio driver. RelayMic installs it from its official package rather than bundling a copy, and removes cleanly if you uninstall. It's what allows any app on the Mac to see RelayMic as an ordinary input.
I'm on Windows connecting to Windows. Do I need this?
No — Microsoft RDP already redirects your microphone, at no cost. RelayMic exists because that feature has no equivalent when the far end is a Mac. Use what's free where it works.
My iPhone and my Mac are in the same room. Do I need this?
Probably not. Apple's Continuity already lets a nearby iPhone act as a Mac microphone for free. RelayMic is for distance: different building, different city, different country.
How much delay is there really?
Roughly a phone call. On a direct connection you're looking at a network round trip plus a 150 ms buffer that absorbs the jitter real networks produce. It's built for talking, dictating and meetings — not for monitoring yourself while recording music.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. Seven days, every feature, no card up front. If it doesn't do what this page says, you've lost an install and a few minutes.
Give the Mac over there a microphone.
Early access is opening in batches. Leave an email and you'll hear from us once — when it's your turn.