Spyder on macOS Not Prompting for Microphone Permissions

[wooii]

Problem:
Spyder doesn't prompt for microphone permissions on macOS, causing scripts requiring microphone access to fail.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install Spyder via Anaconda.
2. Run a Python script using the sounddevice library.
3. No macOS prompt appears for microphone access.

Expected Behavior:
A macOS prompt appears, and the microphone works after permission is granted.

Actual Behavior:
No prompt, and the microphone is inaccessible.

Environment:

• macOS version: 15.1.1
• Spyder version: 6.0.1
• Python version: 3.12.7
• Installation method: Anaconda

Additional Context:

• VS Code and Terminal trigger the macOS permission prompt as expected. Similar behavior should occur in Spyder.
• I have also downloaded the standalone macOS installation package from Spyder’s website, but it exhibits the same behavior.

[ccordoba12]

Hey @wooii, thanks for reporting. I have a quick question for you: are you able to run that code from JupyterLab or Jupyter notebook?

[wooii]

Hello @ccordoba12, thank you for your quick response. I’ve tested the code below on macOS in Jupyter Notebook, and it worked as expected. However, when I ran the same code in JupyterLab on macOS, it did not work.

import sounddevice as sd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Parameters
duration = 3  # seconds
fs = 16000    # sampling rate

# Record audio
print(f"Recording for {duration} seconds.")
audio = sd.rec(int(duration * fs), samplerate=fs, channels=1)
sd.wait()

# Plot the recorded audio
plt.plot(audio)
plt.title("Recorded Audio")
plt.xlabel("Sample Index")
plt.ylabel("Amplitude")
plt.show()

# Play back the recorded audio
print(f"Playing recorded audio...")
sd.play(audio, fs)
sd.wait()

[ccordoba12]

Ok, thanks for checking. That means this problem is not related to Spyder because it also affects JupyterLab.

So, please report it in the sounddevice repository so that you can receive support from its developers:

https://github.com/spatialaudio/python-sounddevice

[ollpu]

@ccordoba12

this problem is not related to Spyder because it also affects JupyterLab.

That is not really true. Each application needs to separately declare in their manifest that they may use the microphone. That is, NSMicrophoneUsageDescription must be set in Info.plist. It just happens that this is set in neither Spyder nor JupyterLab (desktop app?) distributions.

[ccordoba12]

Thanks for the tip @ollpu! We'll take care of that in our 6.1.0 version, to be released in a couple of months.

@mrclary, could you take care of that? And we should also set NSCameraUsageDescription (according to the page referenced by @ollpu) to allow users to have access to their cameras.