Android smartphones come with a built-in microphone that lets you make calls and also record audio when you turn on video recording. However, the mic quality varies from smartphone to smartphone. If you want professional audio recordings, though, you prefer an external microphone, as they"re designed specifically for that.
Sadly, not all Android apps let you select the external microphone as the audio input device. Thankfully, that may change soon with Android 16 because the upcoming operating system, which is called "Baklava," is speculated to introduce a system-wide audio input switcher.
Since the craze of vlogging has increased, many people find it more convenient to use a smartphone instead of a dedicated video camera. Smartphone cameras have also improved significantly. Although using an external microphone on a phone may still be a niche thing, Google seemingly wants to please such users as well.
There is a "MediaRecorder API," which lets apps ask what audio sources are available and also sets what audio source is to be used for recording. Pixel Camera and Pixel Recorder take advantage of this API and let its users choose the audio input source. It appears that the feature is also coming for other Android smartphones.
In the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 release, a few codes for audio input router have been spotted that let you change the audio device you want to use for recording. As per Mishaal Rahman, the text says "this computer" even after using a smartphone, suggesting that the feature was developed for Android on PCs.
For now, there is no guarantee that the system-wide audio input switcher will land for smartphones. But since Android 16 will launch in Q2 of 2025, there is still plenty of time left for Google to make this work out.