topic Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting? in Meetings

Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

aaronklein — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 15:48:51 GMT

I'm running MacOS Monterey. Several times in the last few weeks, I've noticed the orange dot indicating the microphone is being used by an app, and I click on the Control Center and see that Zoom is accessing the microphone. I'm not in a meeting and simply have the Zoom app open. Why would Zoom be accessing the microphone when I'm not in a meeting?

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

Mrcskrgr — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 12:44:15 GMT

Same issue here. Orange dot active and Control Center indicating that Zoom is accessing the microphone, but with no ongoing active call. Closing down Zoom app removes the orange dot indication. Why is Zoom listening in the background?

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

MichaelThwaite — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 13:36:21 GMT

Just noticed the same this morning; they don't have a great track record with privacy, are you looking at another attempt to 'improve the user experience'?

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

johnoshea — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 21:32:44 GMT

Seeing the same thing here (Zoom starting to listen without any user input).

I've left an OBS window open without a recording running, and am seeing the orange dot, presumably as OBS is monitoring audio to be able to update its onscreen audio levels display. I wonder if Zoom is doing something similar.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

apireno — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 23:28:34 GMT

Same issue here. This is major privacy breach and I am considering dropping Zoom and asking my IT department to replace Zoom with a more secure option.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

ancerpt — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 23:57:41 GMT

Same issue has been happening to me for a few months. Randomly my music playback will get distorted and the only way to fix it is to quit zoom. I just updated to MacOS Monterey and now see the same orange dot indicator with zoom listed.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

johnoshea — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:48:41 GMT

Huh. Looks like it's been fixed: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201361963-New-Updates-for-Mac-OS

December 27, 2021 version 5.9.1 (3506)

Resolved Issues

Resolved an issue regarding the microphone light indicator being triggered when not in a meeting on macOS Monterrey

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

johnoshea — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 18:35:10 GMT

Well, that most recent update seems to have made no obvious difference. I've just noticed the orange dot again, and when I quit Zoom, Timing.app told me that I'd apparently been on a 2 hour Zoom call.

At this point, it looks like it's safest to only run Zoom while on active calls and keep it quit otherwise.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

ancerpt — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 03:41:24 GMT

The update didn't fix the issue for me. I've updated zoom, but I just experienced this issue again today.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

apireno — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 15:40:09 GMT

Update didn't fix the issue for me either. Staring at the orange dot now while not on a zoom meeting. Very frustrating. Zoom, please stop spying on me.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

AlexeyU — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 16:00:48 GMT

Even in 5.9.1 it's same.

And what about privacy? Listening my private environment outside of a meeting doesn't seem right at all.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

adamj — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 04:21:44 GMT

Yep, same here. Zoom 5.9.1 on MacOS 12.1. Keep seeing the orange dot and control centre saying Zoom is using my mic.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

a_naive_custome — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 00:53:50 GMT

click "zoom.us" from the status bar-> select Preferences.. -> select Audio, do nothing but close the Setting dialog window. This makes the orange dot disappear for me. This is a workaround if one doesn't want to quit zoom completely, but why not?

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

rsrsrs — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 17:35:05 GMT

Same issue. This is really worrying privacy-wise.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

adamj — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:53:46 GMT

The cynic in me is wondering if this 'fix' in 5.9.1 was a (failed) attempt to obfuscate the fact Zoom is actually listening to the mic all the time, rather than fixing a genuine bug

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

bangersandmash — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 14:06:37 GMT

I am having the same problem, though Zoom was using the mic when I thought the application wasn't even running. After reading this thread I did the following:

1. Quit Zoom

2. Opened Activity Monitor

Once Activity Monitor was opened I saw that the Zoom app was "Not Responding" (even though I icon had disappeared from my Dock). I force quit the app and the orange dot in Control Centre went away.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

Crear12 — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 19:02:44 GMT

Same issue. Comparing to the privacy concern, I'm more annoyed because Mac will switch my AirPods Pro back when I'm actually using my phone. Mac thinks that as long as zoom requires microphone, I'm in a meeting. But I'm in a phone call on my iPhone.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

wgonzalez01 — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 16:03:46 GMT

I'm also having this same problem, i noticed it about two months ago and its not changed. The only way around it is to quit the app after you get off the call and reopen it. The dot will go away after it has been newly opened.

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

hakube34 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 01:06:00 GMT

So Zoom can spy on you and sell your voice data. Zoom is a shady company and never cared about privacy

Re: Why is the Zoom app listening on my microphone when not in a meeting?

dvaldivia — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 02:31:10 GMT

same problem