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

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 18, 2021
32 replies
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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?

Best answer by Bitcoin_Shaman

Hey @aaronklein

We experienced a bug relating to the Zoom client for macOS, which could show the orange indicator light continue to appear after having left a meeting, call, or webinar. This bug was addressed in the Zoom client for macOS version 5.9.3 and we recommend you update to version 5.9.3 to apply the fix.

As always, we recommend users make sure their Zoom client is updated to the latest version. Users can also opt-in to Automatic Updates by selecting “Automatically keep Zoom desktop client up to date” in your Zoom client settings.

Thanks!

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Mrcskrgr

Newcomer

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?

M

MichaelThwaite

Newcomer

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'?

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Murtesa

Newcomer

Oro

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johnoshea

Newcomer

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.

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apireno

Newcomer

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.

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ancerpt

Newcomer

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.

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johnoshea

Newcomer

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

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johnoshea

Newcomer

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.

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AlexeyU

Newcomer

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.

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adamj

Newcomer

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.

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a_naive_custome

Newcomer

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?