Micbridge — Use your phone as a PC microphone

A wireless microphone for Windows, using your phone browser. Pair once. Open. Speak.

Created by Iñaki Abadia · MIT licensed · Early preview

Get started · Platform support · Setup guide · Roadmap

Micbridge lets you use your phone as a microphone for your PC over Wi-Fi. The Windows microphone route has been tested with an iPhone using Safari, with no phone app to install. The desktop receives audio, provides listening and WAV recording controls, and can send it to a virtual microphone for a meeting or recording app.

Release · 0.4.0 — Windows installation and virtual microphone output have been tested with an iPhone. Linux/macOS builds pass CI; audio routing still needs hardware validation. Safari screen locking can interrupt streaming; keep the phone app open and the screen awake.

Make the microphone you already own useful

Pair once	Control your sound	Keep it local
Enter a six-digit desktop code. Saved pairing uses a secure cookie; the phone URL stays clean.	Adjust gain up to 600%, mute, toggle browser noise reduction, and choose desktop audio output.	Stream over local HTTPS. Save WAV recordings only when you choose to record.

• A phone app without deployment. Open the served web app in Safari or another compatible browser, or add it to your home screen.
• A desktop that stays out of the way. Integrated window controls, a tray icon, and optional start at login on Windows/macOS.
• Useful feedback. Input meter, frame counters, transfer totals, playback queue, and underrun indicators.
• Flexible routing. Monitor with headphones or send audio to a supported virtual device for another application.

Get started

Download the Windows release and choose the setup wizard or portable executable. It is unsigned; Windows may show a SmartScreen warning. The phone app is served by the desktop, so no separate phone download is needed.

GitHub builds include a Windows setup executable with an installation wizard and a separate portable executable. On macOS, open the DMG and drag the app into Applications. On Linux, install the .deb using your package manager, or make the AppImage executable and run it.

Run from source

Use Node.js 24 LTS and npm. No other microphone app, native helper, or .NET SDK is required.

npm ci
npm start

Prefer a browser dashboard instead of the desktop shell?

npm run serve

Connect your phone

1. Keep the desktop running and connect both devices to the same reachable network.
2. For iPhone, choose First-time iPhone setup on the desktop. Install the certificate profile and enable full trust in iOS. This is a one-time local HTTPS setup.
3. Open the desktop's phone link, or save it with Safari's Add to Home Screen.
4. Inside the phone app, enter the six-digit desktop code once. Tap Start microphone and grant microphone access.
5. On Windows, click Enable Micbridge microphone, then select Micbridge Microphone (VB-Audio Virtual Cable) in your meeting or recording app. Existing cables may retain the name CABLE Output. Use headphones for monitoring.

The default phone address is https://YOUR-DESKTOP-IP:8443/phone. Reserve the desktop's IP in your router to keep the address stable. Port 8442 serves public certificate setup material; microphone audio and pairing use HTTPS on 8443.

Visit the project homepage. See the setup guide for certificate trust, environment variables, routing, and build commands.

Platform support

Platform	Current status	Audio routing
Windows desktop	Local build and runtime tested	Optional bundled VB-CABLE setup and automatic routing for use in other apps
Linux desktop	Implemented; runtime unverified	PulseAudio / PipeWire compatibility using pactl and pacat
macOS desktop	Builds pass CI; runtime unverified	An externally installed virtual audio device is required
iPhone / Safari	User confirmed audible desktop monitoring	Foreground browser capture; locked-screen streaming is not reliable
Android browser	Implemented; device unverified	Requires trusted HTTPS and microphone permission

The Windows x64 installer includes optional setup of the Microsoft-signed VB-CABLE driver from VB-Audio. New installations use the display name Micbridge Microphone (VB-Audio Virtual Cable); existing cables keep their names. Enable the Micbridge microphone, then select its recording endpoint in your meeting or recording app. VB-CABLE is separately licensed donationware with professional licensing requirements; it is not covered by Micbridge’s MIT license. See the setup and licensing documentation. The earlier experimental Micbridge-owned driver is excluded from releases.

Privacy and pairing

Audio travels between your phone and desktop over the local network. The app has no account system, vendor telemetry, or third-party audio upload. WAV recordings stay in the local app data directory and require explicit recording activation.

Pairing codes are single-use, expire after ten minutes, and have a global attempt limit. The phone stores its pairing in a persistent Secure, HttpOnly cookie. Forget paired phones revokes it. Clearing website data or changing the IP/hostname can require pairing again.

The desktop creates a local certificate authority for HTTPS. Install its certificate only on devices you control, and keep its private keys private. Do not expose the app's ports directly to the public internet.

Under the hood

flowchart LR
    Phone[Phone browser microphone] -->|HTTPS WebSocket · PCM16 mono| Desktop[Micbridge desktop]
    Desktop --> Monitor[Headphone monitoring]
    Desktop --> WAV[Optional local WAV]
    Desktop --> Virtual[Available virtual audio route]
    Virtual --> App[Meeting or recording app]

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The desktop uses Electron and TypeScript; browser capture uses an AudioWorklet. Audio uses 20 ms mono PCM frames over WebSocket. Browser noise reduction uses the browser's processing rather than a bundled neural model.

Development

npm test           # Build and run the automated checks
npm run package    # Build an unpacked desktop app

For Windows packaging:

node scripts/release-notices.mjs
npm run dist:win

Build Linux/macOS packages on their respective hosts with npm run dist:linux or npm run dist:mac. CI builds do not replace audio routing tests on actual hardware. Current preview binaries are unsigned.

Roadmap

Release downloads can be built entirely on GitHub. See the release workflow guide for tag-triggered builds and draft releases.

• Validate home-screen pairing persistence and recovery on real iPhones.
• Test long-session latency, clock drift, and interruption recovery.
• Move transmission toward compressed WebRTC/Opus audio.
• Validate the bundled Windows virtual microphone with more conferencing applications.
• Validate Linux and macOS routing and packaging.
• Explore a lightweight native mobile companion for reliable locked-screen capture.
• Add signed releases and a reviewed update path.

License and credits

Created by Iñaki Abadia. Copyright © 2026 Iñaki Abadia.

Micbridge is released under the MIT License. Use, modification, distribution, and commercial use are permitted subject to preserving the copyright and license notice. Third-party dependencies retain their own licenses.

Micbridge is an independent implementation informed by investigation of an installed Windows client. Proprietary applications, decompiled source, model files, and third-party branding are excluded from the public repository. See the publication checklist for release readiness.