Will it work with my Android phone?
Three checks, in order, and they take a minute.
The port.If your phone has USB-C — which it almost certainly does — a USB-C mic like the Me-C+ plugs in directly, and a wireless receiver like the DJI Mic Mini’s or the Lark M2’s does too. A 3.5mm mic such as the smartLav+ needs a USB-C-to-headphone adapter, and it needs one with a DAC in it (the cheap passive ones only work on phones that still have analogue audio on the port).
The app. Open your recording app and check the audio source. Stock camera apps vary enormously between manufacturers in how willingly they use an external mic. If yours ignores it, a third-party video app that lets you select the input fixes it immediately, and is worth setting up before a shoot rather than during one.
The levels. None of these mics have a gain dial, so your recording app sets the level. Record fifteen seconds, play it back on headphones, and adjust before you film the thing that matters. This is the step everyone skips and it is the only one that catches a dead or distorted take.
Plug-in shotgun or wireless?
A plug-in shotgun sits on the phone and points where the phone points. It is directional, so it favors what is in front of it and rejects some of what is beside and behind it. That makes it excellent for holding the phone and talking to it, for filming something in front of you, and for b-roll where you want the sound of the scene rather than a voice. It needs no charging, no pairing and no second device. Its limit is distance: at six feet in a normal room it is already picking up more room than voice, because directionality reduces room sound, it does not eliminate it.
A wireless clip-on puts the microphone on the person instead of on the camera, which is the only way to get close-mic sound at a distance. Six inches from a mouth in a bad room beats six feet in a good one, every time. You pay for that with two batteries to charge, a receiver on the phone, and a little more to think about before you roll. Both wireless systems here ship with two transmitters, so a two-person interview is covered by one purchase.
Our lavalier vs shotgun mic guide works through this trade-off in more depth, and how to choose a microphone covers the wider decision if you also record at a desk.
What about the iPhone versions of these mics?
Worth knowing if you are reading comparisons written for iPhone users. RODE makes a Lightning version of the same idea, the VideoMic Me-L, for older iPhones — it will not work on an Android phone at all, because the connector is wrong. The USB-C Me-C+ is the one to buy for Android, and it is also the current iPhone pick, which is why it appears on our best shotgun mic for iPhone roundup too. Wireless systems are mostly port-agnostic: the receiver connects over USB-C, and the same kit moves between an Android phone, an iPhone and a camera.
Getting the most out of whichever you buy
Get closer than feels natural. Distance is the single biggest factor in how a recording sounds, ahead of the mic itself. Halving the distance to your mouth does more for your audio than doubling your budget.
Use the windshield. Both RODE mics here include one. Outdoors, a breeze you can barely feel will produce a low rumble that makes a clip unusable, and no editing fixes it. Put the furry windshield on and leave it on.
Point the phone, not just the mic. A directional mic mounted on your phone aims where the phone aims. If you are filming yourself on the rear camera with the mic facing away from you, you are recording the street.
Record a safety copy. If you are doing something you cannot re-shoot, let the phone record its own audio as well, or have a second person record on theirs. Audio is the one thing in video you cannot fix later.
