Audio recorded from OnePlus 6/6T sounds tinny, distorted and distant on some third party apps

OnePlus 6T users have recently complained about a sharp decline in the battery life of the device. Today, there is another issue being discussed on Reddit and the OnePlus forum (via Android Police) revolving around the poor recording quality of the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T with certain apps. Audio recorded from the last two OnePlus handsets sounds like it is coming from a distant planet when heard over Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more. The quality is poor, there is a tinny quality to it, and the sound is distorted.

The problem apparently stems from the fact that these apps are only using the top microphone on the handsets, which is supposed to be used for noise cancellation only. Apparently, this issue has also been discovered on older models including the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T and the OnePlus 3. Not all apps are affected; Instagram, for one, doesn't seem to have this audio problem when playing sound recorded by a OnePlus phone.

Some OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T users wonder if the microphone issue is why they have trouble activating Google Assistant when they bellow out, "Hey Google." Fixing this problem could require nothing more than a software update, even though there are third party apps involved.