4 ms·
Show HN: mute your macOS mic to ZERO. But Siri keeps listening
- keepamovin 9mo agoI discovered that setting macOS input volume to 0 doesn't actually stop "Listen for Siri" or Apple Intelligence from hearing you. The wake-word detection bypasses the system volume setting entirely. So la I built NoSpy — a 156-line Swift CLI that: - Toggles your mic with one command - Warns you if Siri can still listen (even when "muted") - Opens the right settings pane to actually disable it No dependencies. Just compile and run: swiftc nospy.swift -o nospy ./nospy status Example output when you think you're muted but aren't: Microphone is MUTED (input volume: 0) Siri/Apple Intelligence is ENABLED — "Listen for Siri" can still hear you. GitHub: https://github.com/BrowserBox/NoSpy https://github.com/BrowserBox/NoSpy Inspired by: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790765 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790765 Curious if others have run into this. The distinction between "system mute" and "voice assistant mute" isn't obvious in macOS, and I suspect most people assume muting the mic means nothing is listening??
- threecheese 9mo agoSiri has scared us a few times lately; my wife exclaimed something like “I’ll just shoot myself” and her iPhone immediately called emergency services. We do use the HomeKit platform though, and so no muting like this is possible unfortunately. I would however like to make sure my MacBook can be private.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- keepamovin 9mo agoHahaha, that's quite a story. Yeah this little script only works on mac I think.