Resolve MacOS mic access issue

If this template helps then use it. If not then just delete and start from scratch.

OS (e.g. Win10): Mac OS Monterey
PsychoPy version (e.g. 2024.2.4 Py 3.8): 2025.1.1
Standard Standalone Installation? (y/n) y
Do you want it to also run online? (y/n) n

Today, I have to make new experiment using voice input. Just like other colleagues, I faced the repeated issue on recent mac OS mic issue (PsychoPy doesn’t request mic permission and save empty .wav file), and dig a bit.
The temporal resolution is run psychopy directly rather than click PsychoPy.app as described.

I am unhappy with this solution, and figured out it’s due to missing key in info.plist.

Just confirmed that adding below key

<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app requires access to the microphone to record audio for experiments.</string>
around     <key>NSPrincipalClass</key>

and re-signing resolve the issue. now the PsychoPy.app properly ask the permission to .mic access.

Since make self-signed key and re-signing app is not a good idea for everyone, I will not post detail here.

@jon @wakecarter Would you check this and test in your side? if the info.plist can be updated before sign in your side would be really great.

J.

That’s interesting. Thanks for digging. I’ve added that and the video/cam equivalent in BF: add mic query plist by peircej · Pull Request #7402 · psychopy/psychopy · GitHub

We’ll test on the built version and if all goes well those will be in the next release

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