Bluetooth microphone not released after call ended

hal-shortie

Connect bluetooth headphones with microphone to computer
Open Google Meet in Orion
Configure Google Meet to use headphones as input and output
Start a Google Meet
Leave Google Meet & Close Tab

Usually when you use a bluetooth headset and both the microphone & audio from the microphone you can hear that the audio quality is reduced after (4) and then improves again after (5) (due to bluetooth bandwidth restrictions).

You can easily verify this by letting some music play throughout all the steps and hearing the quality drop.

On any other browser, after (5), the quality increases again (e.g. Firefox, Safari, Chrome), however on Orion the quality stays low. The only way to fix this seems to be to quit Orion entirely.

I wish I could provide screenshots or videos, but impossible due to audio only issues.

macOS 14.5 -- Orion Version 0.99.128.2.1-beta (WebKit 619.1.11.111.2)

Sonoma (14)

Vlad

hal-shortie I am not able to reproduce this, will leave open for others. Not clear if Orion or system specific atm.

hal-shortie

Hm, I wonder whether it's an Airpods thing in that case? I am using AirPods Max. Will keep my eyes open to see if I can reproduce this under some but not other circumstances.

Vlad

hal-shortie Using Airpods Pro 2 and no issue.

bitwalker

@Vlad Are there any debugging tools we can use to troubleshoot issues related to audio/bluetooth devices? I'd like to do some digging and try to figure out some of the issues related to AirPods and Google Meet, but AFAICT there isn't much we can do on our end to gather the necessary info for that part of Orion.

I looked at the debug info you can ask Orion for, but it doesn't include any of the devices Orion knows about (e.g. when selecting input/output devices in Google Meet for example). Maybe it doesn't keep track of that, and just gathers it on the fly, but if you have any suggestions or ways I can do the legwork necessary to pin down the root cause, I'd love to help! Not sure how practical attaching a debugger like lldb is for something as complex as Orion, but if something like that is a viable option, I'll definitely give it a shot and see what I can find.

I have Google Meet meetings on a very regular basis, so I'm hitting some of these bugs frequently, so I have plenty of opportunities to try out any potential solutions!

Vlad

bitwalker I use Google meet and Airpods and do not encounter the issue and because there are not a lot of upvotes here I tend to think it is localised to your setup. Debugging that - really have no idea where to start our hands are full of all other stuff we are doing.

hal-shortie

Is it possible this is related to profiles somehow?

I just realized I can remove this "lock" or whatever it is by just quitting the profile I used google meet in, while the other profile is still running. Simply closing all the windows in the profile however seems to be insufficient.

Vlad

hal-shortie We'd love to have reproducible steps, it would accelerate finding what the issue is.

Chreeos

I consistently have this problem with the built-in camera and microphone on my MacBook Pro when I close a Google Meet window (I tend to close without leaving first). I have to quit Orion to fix it.

stephiecutie

Hi, I have been experiencing this recently too. It's really annoying since the microphone being active means music playing gets ducked. You can tell it's happening as this icon appears despite there being no google meet window.

I often have it happening inside tab groups. Perhaps tab group open on multiple windows is also a factor.

HarryNicholls

I have the bluetooth mic issue and same issue as Chreeos: my MacBook thinks I'm still in a meeting (green video camera icon in OS toolbar, green light next to built-in camera etc.) after I close a Google Meets tab. I have to close Orion to fix it.

Hi_mike

This sounds less like a Google Meet issue and more like Orion not fully releasing the Bluetooth microphone session after the tab is closed. The quality drop during the meeting is expected because many Bluetooth headsets switch to a hands-free profile when the mic is active, but the audio should return to normal once the microphone is no longer being used.

A few things worth testing: after leaving Meet, check macOS Sound settings and see whether the headset microphone is still selected as the active input. You can also try switching the input temporarily to the MacBook’s built-in microphone while keeping the Bluetooth headset as output. That often prevents the headset from staying in the lower-quality call mode.

It may also help to remove microphone permission for Meet/Orion, restart the browser, and then grant access again. If the issue only happens in Orion and not Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, it’s probably a browser-level bug where the audio input stream is not being released properly.

For troubleshooting, I’d also do a quick mic check before and after the call using something simple like check microphone online to confirm whether the microphone is still being detected or held active.

Hopefully Orion can fix this in a future build because quitting the whole browser just to restore Bluetooth quality is definitely not ideal.