Phone link and an external microphone

It sounds like you're experiencing an issue with the Phone Link app not recognizing your Yeti microphone for calls. Since you've already tried several troubleshooting steps, here are a few additional suggestions that might help:

1. Check Device Settings: Ensure that your Yeti microphone is set as the default recording device in your Windows sound settings. You can do this by right-clicking the sound icon in the taskbar, selecting "Sounds," and then navigating to the "Recording" tab.
2. Update Drivers: Make sure that your audio drivers are up to date. You can do this through the Device Manager by expanding the "Sound, video and game controllers" section, right-clicking your microphone, and selecting "Update driver."
3. Permissions: Double-check that Phone Link has the necessary permissions to access your microphone. Even if it doesn't appear as an installed app, ensure that any settings related to microphone access for apps are enabled in the Windows privacy settings.
4. Reboot Your PC: Sometimes, a simple reboot can resolve issues with device recognition.
5. Test with Other Apps: Since you mentioned that the microphone works with other programs, try using it with different calling applications (like Skype or Zoom) to see if the issue is isolated to Phone Link.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be beneficial to reach out to Microsoft support for further assistance, as they might have more specific insights into the Phone Link app's functionality with external microphones.

References:

• Your Phone

Thanks for sharing the details, Emilio! Try to disable Hands-Free Telephony for your phone’s Bluetooth

When Phone Link handles calls, Windows often forces Bluetooth “Hands-Free” mode, which locks the microphone to the phone profile and greys out external mics.

What to do

• Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Devices
• Click your phone
• Click More Bluetooth settings
• Under Services, UNCHECK:
  Hands-Free Telephony
• Click OK

Restart both:
Your PC

Your phone

Hands-Free Telephony hijacks call audio. Once disabled, Phone Link can use system microphones again instead of Bluetooth-only input. If the problem will persist, force Phone Link to re-register its audio endpoints

Phone Link doesn’t always re-detect microphones after Windows updates.

Steps

Close Phone Link

Press Win + R, paste:

ms-settings:appsfeatures

Search Phone Link

Click Advanced options

Click Terminate

Click Repair

Click Reset

Reboot

See if these help. If you need further assistance just let me know.

Best regards,

Kimberly

I provided a set of different fixes, try those Emilio.

Several Windows updates changed Phone Link’s call handling.

Temporary workaround

• Start Phone Link
• Start a call
• While the call is ringing:
  • Right-click the speaker icon
  • Open Volume mixer
  • Expand Phone Link
  • Manually switch input to Yeti

If it works once, it usually sticks after reboot.

For external mic, the support has quietly reduced in Phone Link for calls on some builds — especially when:

Bluetooth is involved

Phone supports native calling audio

External USB mics are present

This is not user error, and many advanced users have hit the same wall.

I tried opening the volume mixer during a call. I manually selected the yeti mic. That didn't work. IO did notice a slider for s25 ultra hands free audio. I tried moving it all the way to off, and that didn't work.