Discord & gaming
Route PocketMic through VB-CABLE into Discord, TeamSpeak, or in-game voice chat. Your phone's mic is often better than a headset boom.
Open source · MIT licensed
Your phone is now
a wireless microphone
PocketMic turns any Android phone into an encrypted, high-quality microphone for your Windows PC — over your private LAN, with zero cloud and zero account.
- ✓ No account
- ✓ No cloud
- ✓ Open source
- ✓ LAN only
One encrypted packet— 1000 bytes · 10 ms of audio · 100× per second
- Header
- 24 B
- Audio
- 960 B PCM16
- GCM tag
- 16 B
- 48 kHzmono PCM16
- 10 ms100 packets per secondUDP packets
- AES-256Key = SHA-256(pairing key)encrypted
- LANyour network
Built for
Use your phone mic where it matters
PocketMic turns a phone you already own into a wireless microphone for any Windows app that needs one.
Streaming & OBS
Use your phone as a wireless lapel mic for OBS, Streamlabs, or any broadcasting software. Move freely while staying connected.
Meetings & calls
Present from anywhere in the room. PocketMic routes into Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet as a system microphone via VB-CABLE.
No accountNo cloudNo telemetryHonest about its limits
How it works
Three steps to wireless audio
Both devices stay on your private network. Scan a QR code or type an IP — everything after that is encrypted.
Open the receiver on your PC
Run
PocketMicReceiver.exe. It shows your IP address and generates a pairing key.Scan the QR code with your phone
Open PocketMic on Android and scan the QR code. IP, port, and encryption key fill in automatically.
Tap Start
Your phone captures audio at 48 kHz, encrypts every 10 ms frame with AES-256-GCM, and streams it to your PC over UDP.
To route into Discord, OBS, or Teams, install VB-CABLE, select CABLE Input as PocketMic Receiver output, then select CABLE Output as the microphone in the target app. A built-in virtual audio device remains on the roadmap.
Features
Everything you need, nothing you don't
AES-256-GCM encryption
Every packet authenticated. Key derived from a pairing phrase you choose.
QR code pairing
Point your phone camera at the PC screen. No IP addresses to type.
Capture modes
Voice (device-processed), Clean (raw), or Custom (PC-side DSP chain).
Selectable output
Route to speakers, headphones, VB-CABLE, or VoiceMeeter.
Adjustable gain
Input gain from 0.5× to 3× with a live level meter.
Resilient streaming
Prebuffering, loss concealment, rollover-safe sequencing, and auto-reconnect.
Foreground service
Stays alive in the background with a notification. Wi-Fi lock keeps packets flowing.
Session diagnostics
Packet counters, jitter stats, Wi-Fi band/RSSI, and exportable session reports.
Voice processing
One layer, not three
PocketMic's Voice mode uses the phone's own voice-communication processing — the vendor-tuned noise suppression, gain control, and echo handling. No stacking.
Voice mode Default
Uses VOICE_COMMUNICATION — the Android source that phone vendors tune for calls. Exactly one processing layer: the device's own. No software noise suppression, gain control, or echo cancellation stacked on top. This is what made the old double-DSP path sound hissy and pumped — we removed it.
Best for: Discord, Teams, calls, general voice chat
Clean mode
Requests the rawest input the phone offers — UNPROCESSED where supported, falling back to VOICE_RECOGNITION and then MIC. No phone-side processing. What you send is what the mic picks up.
Best for: recording, podcasting, when you want full control
Custom mode
Clean capture from the phone, shaped by the receiver's DSP chain on the PC: high-pass filter, noise gate, compressor, presence EQ, and limiter. Sliders on the phone control the PC-side processing live — changes apply instantly while streaming.
Best for: streaming, broadcasting, when you want PC-side control
Screenshots
Real captures, real hardware
From the v0.1.5 artifacts on a OnePlus 9 Pro and Windows 11 PC. No mockups.
Android Transmitter
QR pairing, capture modes (Voice / Clean / Custom), adjustable gain, live level meter. Runs as a foreground service with Wi-Fi lock.
Windows Receiver
Auto-discovers VB-CABLE, one-click default mic switching, voice processing chain, session diagnostics with export.
Compare
How PocketMic stacks up
Each approach has tradeoffs. PocketMic's niche is encrypted, phone-as-microphone on a private LAN with no cloud dependency.
| Feature | PocketMic LAN | Bluetooth mic | Discord / Krisp | USB mic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone as wireless mic | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Encrypted on the wire | AES-256-GCM | Depends | TLS | N/A |
| LAN only — no cloud | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| No account required | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works with any app | Via VB-CABLE | OS default only | Discord only | Yes |
| Sample rate | 48 kHz | 8–16 kHz | 48 kHz | 48+ kHz |
| Wireless | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| Open source | MIT | N/A | No | N/A |
Performance
Measured baseline, with the new path in progress
These baseline PCM figures were recorded on a OnePlus 9 Pro and Windows 11 PC over 5 GHz Wi-Fi. The v0.1.5 adaptive Opus path still needs its end-to-end hardware and network checks.
- Prebuffer
- 100 ms
- High-water
- 220 ms
- Concealment
- 200 ms
- Bandwidth
- 768 kbit/s
Adjustable 40–300 ms on the receiver.
Buffered latency trimmed above this mark.
Repeated-decay fill for up to 20 lost packets.
48 kHz mono PCM16 — 1000 bytes per datagram.
Wire format
- 48,000 Hz mono signed PCM16, little-endian
- 480 samples / 960 plaintext bytes per 10 ms packet
- 100 packets per second; exactly 1000 bytes per datagram
- Encryption, header, and packet buffers reused in the hot path
- Audio source tested by actually starting a recording
- Wi-Fi lock policy fed by live network (band, RSSI, loss)
The v0.1.5 receiver adds adaptive Opus buffering; see the release notes for implementation details and the project evidence file for remaining live-device checks.
Security
Encrypted on the wire, scoped to your LAN
Authenticated encryption on every datagram — and an honest boundary about what that means.
- Key
SHA-256(UTF-8(pairing key))- Cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Nonce
- Random 64-bit session ID + unsigned 32-bit sequence
- Authenticated data
- Complete 24-byte protocol header
- Key at rest
- Android Keystore (EncryptedSharedPreferences)
- Scope
- Trusted private LAN only — do not port-forward
Android
Windows PC
FAQ
Common questions
Does it work with Discord / OBS / Teams?
Yes. Install VB-CABLE, select CABLE Input in PocketMic Receiver, then select CABLE Output as the microphone in your target app. One setup, works everywhere.
Do I need an internet connection?
No. PocketMic works entirely over your local Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Both devices must be on the same private network. No data ever leaves your LAN.
Is the audio quality good?
PocketMic streams at 48 kHz mono PCM16 — the same sample rate as professional audio. Your phone's microphone hardware is usually better than a cheap headset boom. Voice mode uses the device's own voice-communication processing.
What about latency?
Measured at 100–250 ms glass-to-speaker on Wi-Fi, depending on your network. Fine for voice chat and streaming. Not suitable for real-time music monitoring. The prebuffer is adjustable (40–300 ms) to trade latency for stability.
Is it really encrypted?
Every single packet is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The key is derived from a pairing phrase via SHA-256. The nonce uses a random session ID plus a per-packet sequence number. The pairing key is stored encrypted at rest on Android via the Keystore.
Why not just use a Bluetooth microphone?
Bluetooth audio is typically 8–16 kHz (phone quality). PocketMic streams at 48 kHz (CD quality). Bluetooth also introduces its own latency and compression artifacts. PocketMic gives you professional audio quality over your existing Wi-Fi.
Does it drain my battery?
PocketMic holds a partial wake lock and a Wi-Fi performance lock while streaming. Expect moderate battery use — similar to a voice call. The app stops all background activity the moment you tap Stop.
Can I use it on macOS or Linux?
Not yet. The Windows receiver is the only one available. The protocol is documented and simple — a macOS or Linux receiver is possible but hasn't been built.
Build from source
One-command builds
The package ships source plus tooling. The current GitHub release includes a debug-signed Android APK and a pre-built Windows receiver; neither is a store installer.
Requirements
- Android Studio with Android SDK Platform 36
- JDK 17+ (Android Studio's bundled JBR works)
- .NET 8 SDK
- Python 3 (optional — verification scripts)
Build commands
# from the package root (PowerShell)
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process Bypass
.\scripts\build-android.ps1
.\scripts\publish-windows.ps1Install
adb install -r .\release\app-debug.apkFirewall
.\scripts\allow-firewall.ps1Allow UDP port 49500 on Private networks only.
Honest limits
What PocketMic is not
None of these are hidden before you build.
- Windows receiver only — no macOS or Linux yet
- PCM16 uses more bandwidth than Opus; current release estimates are modeled, not a universal network result
- v0.1.5 adds adaptive jitter handling; live-device validation remains open
- No production-signed Android release, Windows installer, or auto-updater
- No internet relay — both devices must be on the same LAN
- Designed for voice, not real-time music monitoring
Get started
Download PocketMic LAN
Free, open source, MIT licensed. Build from source or download the pre-built receiver.