The Shure MV88 is a smartphone external microphone designed to be used with iPhones via the lightning port. This microphone takes your iPhone video recording to the next level, by adding amazing audio. Here we review the Shure MV88, and test to see if it’s the best external microphone for iPhone.
What Is The Shure MV88 Microphone?
The Shure MOTIV MV88 is designed to plug straight into an iPhone, and has a built in male lightning connector. That means it’s compatible with iPhone 5 and later. The microphone is compact, lightweight and comes with a small carry case.
Let’s get one thing straight. This microphone sounds unbelievably great, straight out of the box. With this Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone, you can record as a stereo mic or as a cardioid mono microphone.
Who Should Buy a Shure MV88?
This is such a versatile microphone with professional audio quality. It is so good in fact that it has received wide acclaim for the ability to record live music at professional quality. This microphone would suit professionals and amateurs alike.
If you fall into any of the following groups, you should seriously consider getting your hands on a Shure MV88:
- Recording musicians
- Podcaster
- Vloggers
- Mobile Journalist
- Home Video Maker
Why Do You Need an External Microphone for iPhone
iPhones take amazing video footage, but the audio is unfortunately not up to the same high quality. Due to the tiny built-in microphones in the iPhone, it is impossible to get professional sounding audio. That is unless you connect an external microphone.
The microphone on the iPhone XS and XS max are a huge improvement over previous iPhones. These newer phones come with 4 microphones to produce stereo sound. In fact, I find my iPhone XS max audio to be of usable quality for travel vlogs.
For the first time, this iPhone audio is ok to use for vlogging or YouTube clips. But the Shure MV88 is an outstanding quality external microphone, far superior to the iPhone microphones. The vast improvement over the naked iPhone is very noticeable on the finished video clip.
Wired versus Direct Microphones
I have been using a lapel microphone with my iPhone for a long time. I find the lapel microphone gives excellent results for travel vlogging. My preferred model is the Rode SmartLav+. This excellent lavalier mic for iPhone is
The Shure MV88 is what I would term a direct microphone. That is to say, it plugs directly into the iPhone without the need for wires. It is liberating to be not wired to your iPhone, and overall much easier to use.
ShurePlus Motiv App
The Shure microphone is paired with a Mobile Recording App you can download onto your iPhone called the ShurePlus Motiv App. On this app you can alter the recording pattern of the mic, and various other features.
Here are just some of the things this App can do:
- Compatible with a range of Shure pro microphones, such as the MV88, MV51, MVi, and MVL.
- Adjust stereo width, polar patterns, EQ and more
- Trim and split tracks
- Add fade to tracks
- Real-time function adjustments to suit recording setting
- File sharing via email, text, iTunes, Airdrop, and Dropbox
Do You Need To Use The App?
The thing I like about the Shure MV88 is that it is a
There is nothing to adjust and nothing technical to learn, because this microphone is compatible with IOS audio and video recording apps. Naturally it works seamlessly with the IOS Camera app. The downside is that you will miss out on all the functionality and adjustments available in the app. It just depends on how technical you want to be.
If you want to take your recording to the next level, there are more options for making adjustments in the ShurePlus Motiv App. For example, this would be useful for recording a live session with
Review of the Shure MV88 Microphone
Here are my thoughts on this great little microphone, after using it for a while with an iPhone XS Max.
Pros With The Shure MV88
Hard Case
The great thing about this microphone is the handy little egg-shaped hard case that it comes with. It is small enough to fit into your pocket or your camera bag. The case has a rugged
Wind Jammer
The microphone comes with a wind jammer. This is the small foam ball that fits snugly over the microphone to reduce wind noise. And it fits inside the case with the microphone to give you an all-inclusive kit.
Audio Quality
The audio quality is crazy good. I am not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, but I know good audio when I hear it. The naked iPhone audio is reasonable, but the Shure MV88 audio is incredibly amazing.
I have around 6 external microphones in my collection including the Rode SmartLav+ and the Rode VideoMicro; the Shure MV88 is easily the best recording microphone in my collection to date. It is the easiest to use, the most compact, and with audio quality as good or better than other microphones.
Great for Tech Heads
With the companion app, this is a great microphone for tech heads and audiophiles. They can tweak all the different settings to optimize the recording. This may well be the best microphone app iPhone has to offer.
Plug and Play
At the other end of the spectrum to the tech heads are those who just want to plug the microphone in and start recording. No settings, no fuss. The good news is that this microphone will allow that level of simplicity. Just plug it in and start recording. And it can be fully set up in a matter of seconds.
Cons With the MV88
iPhone Case Removal
Because of the wide base design on the MV88, there is virtually no way you can run this device without removing your iPhone or iPad case. It does get a little bit annoying removing your case all the time to plug the microphone in. Note that you could use an extension wire to leave your iPhone case on, but I feel this takes away from the simple wireless design if the mic.
Microphone Rotation
Rotation is only 90 degrees. This is great for angling the microphone towards your subject whilst recording video. However, I would like the ability to quickly angle the microphone back towards myself to do a live voice-over.
Wind Jammer
As noted above, it’s great to have a windjammer included with the microphone. The only downside is that it is probably the dorkiest looking windjammer I’ve ever seen. Paired up with my iPhone XS Max, the sexiest looking smartphone on the market, the windjammer looks ridiculous. I think I prefer to leave it off to expose the sleek elegance of the microphone itself.
3.5mm Jack
It would be great if a 3.5mm jack was included for headphones line out. I believe this may be a big deal for recording musicians, and would be useful for monitoring the recording live. However, for a day-to-day user and a travel vlogger, this is not a big deal for me.
Is the Shure MV88 the Best Microphone for Vlogging?
These days, Vlogging is one of the main reasons people purchase microphones. I think there is a strong argument that this could be the best microphone for vlogging. Here’s why.
It is possible to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a Vlogging setup. That is if you want to go down the mirrorless camera and studio microphone route. But all you really need is an iPhone, a GorillaPod, an iPhone to Tripod adaptor, and a Shure MV88.
Apart from the iPhone, the full kit will only cost you only a couple of hundred dollars. With this smartphone external microphone, your audio and video quality will be pro quality. That makes the MV88 the best budget microphone for YouTube and overall the best microphone for vlogging.
What is the Shure MV88 Compatable With?
This microphone will fit any of these devices:
- iPhone 5 and later
- iPad 4th generation, Air, Air 2, Pro
- iPad Mini, Mini 2, Mini 3
- iPad Touch 5th generation
Should You Buy a Shure MV88?
If you are thinking of publishing an iPhone video onto YouTube, you sure need a
I am fully converted to the Shure MV88, such that I wonder how I did without it for so long. This is a good quality microphone and the best smartphone microphone on the market. It’s not a cheap microphone at around $150, however, it is worth every cent. When you consider how precious your video footage is, the investment is well justified. The Shure MV88 is an excellent iPhone mic which I whole-heartedly recommend you invest in.
