Second Display turns an iMac into a display for the Mac you work on, a Mac mini for example, as if you had plugged in a monitor. While they’re connected, the iMac’s microphone also shows up on your Mac mini as an input, named like the iMac. Apps there can record or call with it, as with any microphone.

What you get

  • The iMac is a microphone on your Mac mini. Choose the input named like your iMac in an app’s audio settings or in System Settings › Sound › Input.
  • Over the cable or the network. The microphone works over the cable and over Wi‑Fi or Ethernet.
  • Picture, sound and voice from one iMac. The iMac shows your Mac mini’s extra display, can play its sound, and can listen too.

How to turn it on and choose it in an app, step by step: Use the display Mac’s microphone

Before you start

  • Two Macs that work with Second Display. The iMac needs macOS 12.3 or later, the Mac mini macOS 14 or later. What you need
  • Permission on the iMac. The iMac asks macOS for its microphone, so macOS asks on the iMac, not on your Mac mini.

If the iMac isn’t your display yet, start with Set up Second Display on both Macs.

Sound out of the same iMac

The iMac’s speakers can play your Mac mini’s sound as well, and that works best with the microphone: the iMac cleans the sound so what its speakers play doesn’t come back through the microphone. Sound through the display Mac’s speakers

More guides: use iMac speakers for a MacBook, an iMac as a monitor for a Mac mini, use an old iMac as a monitor and a MacBook as a monitor for a Mac mini. The microphone is part of Second Display, free for 7 days, then $39 once. Download it and give your Mac mini a microphone.

Questions

Does it work over Wi‑Fi?

Yes. The microphone works over the cable and over Wi‑Fi or Ethernet.

Where does macOS ask for permission?

On the iMac, not on your Mac mini. The iMac asks when you tick Microphone during setup, when you choose it in Settings, or the first time an app on your Mac mini listens. Choose Allow.

Will my speakers play back into the microphone?

The iMac cleans the sound with macOS’s voice processing, so what its speakers play doesn’t come back through the microphone. It works best when the sound plays on the iMac as well.

I use two iMacs as displays. Which microphone is used?

Each display’s microphone is listed as an input, and an app can choose any of them. Only one at a time is the default input: choosing another display in Second Display Settings › Sound moves it there.