Newcomer

Question

Desktop phone audio fails when I am unmuted

Forum|Forum|20 days ago
April 16, 2026
8 replies
226 views

I was using phone for audio for desktop zoom. I could listen. Everything worked fine until the host unmuted me, then the audio icon changed, and I could not interact with the host.

This is using desktop zoom for Debian, 7.0.0.1666

This problem has happened multiple times.

One time, I was able to establish a working system by hanging up the phone and reconnecting.

Another time, this method did not succeed, forcing me to move to Android app.

L

Leon Huang

Employee

@nereocystis To clarify, did you join a Zoom meeting using the 'Phone Audio' option? A regular Zoom Phone call doesn't have a host, and it doesn't support the 'unmute' function for the other party. Could you provide a step-by-step description of your process?"

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

I joined a zoom meeting using desktop zoom via firefox. I then disconnected computer audio, and moved to phone audio, calling into zoom using my phone with meeting id and user id from the website. This was with an Oakland city council meeting. City clerk has complete control, but it is a largish group of people.

I listened via the phone for a substantial amount of time. In one case, it was a couple of hours. In the other case, it was 30 minutes or so.

I have done this many times in the past, successfully. Not frequently, but occasionally.

In the past week, I have had two meetings where my standard practice failed.

I could listen, but when the host tried to unmute me, the connection failed.

L

Leon Huang

Employee

@nereocystis

Subject: Clarification regarding the issue reproduction for Zoom Phone / Meeting connection

I have been attempting to reproduce the issue based on your description. Here are the steps I followed:

Step 1: Launched the Zoom app via Firefox to join a meeting.
Step 2: Disconnected computer audio to leave the active audio session.
Step 3: Joined the meeting via the Zoom Phone tab using the Meeting ID and User ID (as shown in the attached screenshot).
Step 4: Successfully joined the meeting. Initially, I was on mute but could clearly hear the host.
Step 5: The host prompted to unmute me.

To better understand the situation, I would like to clarify two points with you:

Regarding "the connection failed": Could you please specify what this refers to? For example, does it mean you could hear the host, but they were unable to hear you?
Regarding the mute status: I haven't been able to reproduce the exact issue yet, as you mentioned it occurs intermittently. During my testing, when the host requested to unmute me, I had to manually *press 6 on the keypad* to unmute myself. Could you please confirm if you pressed 6 when this issue occurred on your end?

Thank you for your patience and for helping us troubleshoot this.

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

@Leon Huang

Thanks for asking questions. Answers to further questions:

I could still hear the host, but they were unable to see me. I could not see the unmute pop up. The first time this happened, I hung up the phone, called in again, and as soon as I called in, the unmute pop up appeared, even though the city clerk had moved on to another speaker. She moved back to me next.
I have not pressed the number 6 on the phone, either in the past or present. I have waited for the unmute popup on the desktop session. Since this did not show up, I couldn’t continue. Once or twice, in the past, the popup appeared below the main window.

One the most recent occasion, I clicked on full screen mode. In this occasion, I could not get it to work at all, and I eventually moved to the phone. But I had lost the opportunity to speak on some issues.

The audio icon changed after the city clerk announced that she was unmuting me.

Since this problem started, I have not been able to quickly and easily connect to the meetings.

It is difficult to troubleshoot this problem, since everything is time sensitive. The problem does not show up until I have been told to unmute, then I am only given a bit of time to unmute before the meeting moves on.

D

djh

Employee

@nereocystis

hi nereocystis, as you mentioned, "The audio icon changed after the city clerk announced that she was unmuting me." Could you describe in more detail how the audio icon changed? For users who join audio via phone, depending on whether the phone is successfully bound to the meeting (bound by entering the participant ID when calling in), the audio icon may appear in three styles::

(1) If the phone is successfully bound to the meeting, the audio button icon will change to a phone style. At this point, if the "host asks you to unmute", you will receive an unmute dialog and will be able to unmute by clicking the audio button.

(2) If the phone is not bound to the meeting, the audio button will show a "Join Audio" style, and there will be a separate phone user in the meeting. At this point, if the "host asks you to unmute", you will be prompted in your phone call and can successfully unmute by pressing *6 on your phone keypad.

(3) Additionally, there may be another case where the icon appears as a normal audio icon style.

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

Unfortunately, when this problem occurs, it is a high pressure situation, with no time to take screen shots.

Could zoom try to duplicate this with me?

I do not plan to duplicate this in city council meetings, as I wish to speak.

L

Leon Huang

Employee

@nereocystis Thank you very much for your patience in answering my questions. Regarding the 'unmute popup on the desktop session' you mentioned, I am still a bit unclear about which specific popup button it is. Could you please provide a screenshot of it? Please feel free to blur out or redact any sensitive information for your privacy.

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

Thanks for your patience

When the city clerk unmutes me, I usually get an unmute popup on my desktop screen

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

@Leon Huang unfortunately, when zoom fails, I don't have time for a screenshot, I'm busy trying to work around the bug in the short amount of time i have.

Could I set up a test with Zoom?

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

@Leon Huang up until the city clerk hits her unnoted button, my phone is bound to the desktop, with the desktop screen showing this.

In the past, I was able to click on the injure dialog.

Lastvweek, the dialog did not occur, but the audio button changed.

I did not try click on audio button.

Is that the new method?

Lilly Rowling

Newcomer

I’ve seen this happen too... especially when switching from computer audio to phone audio mid-meeting. Since you joined with “Phone Audio,” the host’s unmute request often needs you to press 6 on the phone keypad to unmute manually, not just wait for the desktop popup..

N

nereocystisAuthor

Newcomer

@Lilly Rowling Thanks. should Zoom tell me to press 6? If 6 is required, zoom should inform the user

I had been signed in with phone audio with first 1-2 minutes