Push to talk

With push to talk, Moin sends your voice only while you hold a shortcut. It is in the desktop app on macOS, Windows, and Linux. On phones and on the web your microphone is open whenever you're unmuted.

Turn it on

Open Settings, and in Audio set Input mode to Push to talk.

• Mute always wins: holding the shortcut never unmutes you.
• Every call and every room switch starts silent. If you're already holding the shortcut when a call starts, let go and press it again.
• If push to talk can't work, your microphone stays off. Moin never quietly switches back to an open microphone.

Record a shortcut

On macOS, on Windows, and on Linux desktops that use X11, you record the shortcut in Moin. On Wayland your desktop chooses it instead; see Linux with Wayland.

1. Choose Record shortcut.
2. Press the shortcut you want to hold while talking:
   • a key, such as F13;
   • a key with modifiers, such as Ctrl+Space: press the modifiers first, then the key;
   • a modifier on its own, such as Left Ctrl;
   • a mouse button other than the left and right ones, such as a side button.

Escape cancels. Hold the shortcut to talk, and let go of any part of it to stop. Other apps, games included, still get your keys and buttons.

macOS: allow Input Monitoring

Moin needs Input Monitoring to see your shortcut while another app is in front. The first time you record a shortcut or turn on push to talk, macOS asks for it. Turn on Moin in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring, then quit and reopen Moin.

Linux with Wayland

On Wayland your desktop chooses the shortcut, and Moin shows it wherever the desktop says which key it is. Moin sets up a Push to talk shortcut with your desktop when you turn push to talk on. Where the desktop names no key, Settings shows Set by your desktop, and the info button beside it says where to set it.

• KDE Plasma: choose Change shortcut beside the shortcut in Moin's Settings, or set it in Plasma's shortcut settings.

• GNOME 48 or later: set it in GNOME's keyboard settings.

• Hyprland: bind it in hyprland.conf with the global dispatcher. Run hyprctl globalshortcuts to see its exact name, usually chat.moin.moin:push-to-talk, then add a line such as:

  bindn = , F13, global, chat.moin.moin:push-to-talk

  With bindn the app in front still gets the key. For a side mouse button, write mouse:276 or mouse:275 instead of F13. Hyprland doesn't tell apps which key is bound, so Settings keeps showing Set by your desktop even when the shortcut works.

Other Wayland desktops, such as Sway, niri, and COSMIC, don't offer global shortcuts yet, so push to talk isn't available there; use an open microphone. A mouse button works on Wayland only through your desktop: KDE can turn an extra mouse button into a key combination in its mouse settings, and Hyprland can bind one as above.

If it doesn't work

Settings tells you at the top of the window, starting with "Your microphone is off.":

Message	What to do
Moin can't see your keys	On macOS, turn on Input Monitoring for Moin, as above.
Your desktop doesn't support push-to-talk shortcuts	Your desktop has no global shortcuts. Use an open microphone.
Your desktop didn't allow the shortcut	Check your desktop's keyboard settings, then choose Retry.
Push to talk stopped listening	Choose Retry.

On Linux with X11, earlier versions of Moin left the shortcut to the desktop. If you used push to talk there before, record your shortcut once after updating.