We’re assuming that the same detector that turns of the screen and triggers the software switch to put your Mac to sleep when you close the lid is what activates and deactivates the microphone.īy hooking that function up to the security chip instead of letting the regular software in the operating system take care of the microphone, Apple has effectively cut macOS out of the equation for detecting “should things be on or off”.Īpparently, Apple is extending the T2 Security Chip’s self-contained switching abilities to its new iPad range, activated by an external trigger that is MFi compliant.
On the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers with the T2 chip, and on the 15-inch MacBook Pro portables from 2019 or later, this disconnect is implemented in hardware alone. It’s the Security Chip that turns the microphone off, triggered by the laptop itelf:Īll Mac portables with the Apple T2 Security Chip feature a hardware disconnect that ensures the microphone is disabled whenever the lid is closed. It’s built into the T2 Security chip, which has been part of Apple’s laptop hardware from about 2018 onwards, including recent MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. The microphone switch isn’t a switch in the conventional sense – you don’t operate it like a regular light switch. There’s been a bit of a buzz in the news lately over an “epic new feature” in the next Apple iPad model – the one that’s supposed to come out this year.Ī real-life, break-in-the-wire(ish) microphone switch so that you can be sure that your iPad really isn’t recording you while you’re in your car (less of a problem these days because few of us are commuting) or sitting around at home (more of an issue now because we’re living, working and teaching our kids in the same place).īefore you get too excited, we thought we’d add a few details to the story, and offer some tips for those of us who probably won’t be splashing out on new tablets this year, even if we wanted to.