MicAway

Turn away. You’re muted.

Someone leans in mid-call — turn to answer and MicAway mutes you, then brings your mic back when you face your Mac again. No push-to-talk, no scramble for the mute button. Same for dictation: your aside never becomes a prompt. It never hears a word.

Download for MacView on GitHub
A developer facing a Mac while wearing AirPods
The same developer turning away from the Mac to speak

Facing the MacVoice stays in the session. Drag or click the photo to turn.

Set it once. Then turn.

MicAway menu asking you to face your Mac and calibrate

Calibrate

Wear your AirPods, face your Mac, and set forward once.

MicAway menu showing Listening while facing the Mac

Talk

Face forward. MicAway leaves your input available.

MicAway menu showing Not for your Mac after turning away

Turn

Look toward someone beside you. The aside stays out.

Works where voice stays open.

ChatGPT Voice

Wispr Flow

FluidVoice

Independent project. Not affiliated with Wispr Flow, FluidVoice, or OpenAI.

Keep it on your terms.

Automatic when you want it. Completely out of the way when you do not.

Selected Apps

Use it for dictation, not meetings.

Choose the voice apps where turnaway muting belongs. If an unselected meeting app is using your microphone, MicAway stays inactive.

MicAway Advanced settings with Use in and Sensitivity
Pause Anywhere

Move the laptop without fighting it.

Switch turnaway muting off while walking around the office. Turn it back on and MicAway safely re-centers to your current position.

MicAway menu paused with turnaway muting off

It never hears you.

MicAway reads AirPods head direction and changes microphone state locally.

Read the source

Open the preview.

MicAway is open source, but this preview is not yet signed or notarized. macOS may ask you to confirm the first launch. · — downloads

  1. 1
    Move it to Applications

    Download the universal release, unzip it, then drag MicAway.app into Applications.

  2. 2
    Try opening MicAway

    If macOS blocks it, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security. Scroll to Security and choose Open Anyway.

  3. 3
    Still blocked? Use Terminal

    Run this only for MicAway downloaded from the official GitHub release.

    Terminal
    xattr -cr "/Applications/MicAway.app"
open "/Applications/MicAway.app"

    This removes quarantine metadata from MicAway only. Never run it against Applications, Downloads, or a wildcard.

  4. 4
    Allow Motion access

    Wear compatible AirPods, allow Motion when macOS asks, face your Mac, and calibrate once.

    Motion requiredMicrophone not requestedAccessibility not requested
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