The OnePlus 6T may have been our favorite phone of 2018, but it wasn't without its problems. Recently, we reported that OnePlus phones appear to be resetting battery optimization settings randomly, but it appears that OnePlus 6 and 6T may also have some good, old-fashioned microphone troubles, too: Many are experiencing issues with call and recording quality in third-party apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp.

Reports are widespread, going back to the middle of last year. The issue manifests primarily via third-party apps — like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp — with users of those applications experiencing low-volume, tinny, distant audio. In further experiments, it seems affected apps are exclusively using the top microphone, ostensibly meant to be used for noise cancellation.

For whatever reason, not all third-party apps are affected. Instagram, for example, does not suffer from the problem. Devices other than the OnePlus 6 and 6T may also demonstrate the issue as well, with some experiencing similar behavior on the 5T, and a handful of reports going back to the OnePlus 3 — a distribution which could indicate a software problem, rather than a hardware issue.

Some speculate that this microphone issue with third-party apps could also be responsible for or related to difficulty reliably triggering the Assistant on the OnePlus 6 and 6T, a problem I've experienced with the two phones myself.

We reached out to OnePlus for comment, but had not received one at the time of publication. OnePlus wouldn't be the first Android OEM to have microphone issues, they're pretty much par for the Pixel course at this point. While it only appears to affect third-party apps, at least it seems likely that the issue can probably be fixed.

Source: OnePlus Forums (1), (2), (3), (4); Reddit (1), (2), (3); XDA Forums (1), (2), (3)

Thanks: Product F(RED)