The voice recorder will not start

The permission was declined

The browser asks for the microphone the first time a guest taps the recorder, and the prompt is easy to dismiss by accident. After that the page says access is blocked and that it has to be allowed in the browser settings — the recorder itself cannot ask again.

On a phone that setting sits with the website in the browser, not under app permissions. That is where guests look first and do not find it.

1. Read what the page says. Blocked access and an unavailable microphone produce different messages.
2. Allow it in the browser settings. On a phone the permission sits with the website, not with an app.
3. Close whatever else is listening. A video call holds the microphone and blocks the recorder.

Another app is holding it

A video call, a voice message in another app, or a recording app left running all claim the microphone, and the page then says it could not reach it. Ending the other call and tapping again is the whole fix.

The message is deliberately different from the blocked-permission one, so the wording tells you which of the 2 you have.

Only the third is yours to fix. The other 2 sit on the guest s phone.

Voice notes are off for the event

If you switched voice notes off, the option is not on the guest page at all — there is no greyed-out button and no explanation. So a guest reporting that they cannot find the recorder may be describing a setting rather than a fault.

Voice is on by default, so this only applies if somebody turned it off deliberately.

It records but will not send

That is a different problem: the recording exists and the upload is failing. A voice note may be 50 MB, which spoken audio never approaches, so the cause is the connection or a full album rather than the file.

The page names the reason in the same way it does for a photo or a video.

It records but nobody can hear it

That is position rather than permission. 3 metres away from the speakers sounds different from right in front of them, and the phone held close to the mouth beats any later processing. A corridor or the garden is plenty.

The page allows a listen-back before sending, so a guest who cannot understand themselves can re-record for the cost of a few seconds.

What to tell a guest

2 sentences cover it. Allow the microphone when it asks, and if the recorder stays silent, close whatever else is using it. Both are things a guest can do standing where they are.

If neither works, the photo and video routes are still open. A voice note is worth having but never the only way to contribute.