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Zoom always turn off my screen if my camera covered during meetings. How to stop this?

Hantu
Listener

Hi. Whenever I'm on zoom meeting, I can't even go near my phone camera.

 

This is annoying as sometime I need to type something (question, etc) but I have to put my hand away from camera.

 

I'm not the host, so camera is unnecessary. How do I prevent zoom doing this? 

16 REPLIES 16

Thank you. Howewer, there's seems to he misunderstanding here. 

 

My issue is not that zoom turned off my video during meetings. 

 

My issue is that zoom turned off my screen during meetings, when my hand blocking phone camera. 

 

This happens mostly when I'm using chat feature during meeting, like asking question or made some response.

 

When we type, it's very normal to have our hand move across the screen. And when it's somewhere near the camera, screen is off. This is so annoying 

 

I'm using android. 

I have the same problem with the proximity detect turning off my phone screen when I'm trying to type or do other work during a meeting.  Has anyone found a solution to disabling the proximity detect when using Bluetooth or speakerphone.  Also on an Android (pixel 6 pro specifically)

RichardG1875
Listener

I have this issue too it's very frustrating. When ever I put my hand over or near the front facing camera on my phone it blacks out the screen.

I have read elsewhere that it's the proximity sensor turning off the screen in the same way it would when on a phonecall and the phone is pressed to you ear.

Is there a zoom employee that can comment on this? I'm sure this could be fixed quite easily with a software update? For reference I'm using a Google pixel 7 handset

 

EAV87
Listener

Hello!

Had the same annoying problem with Poco F4 5g. The problem was that I think that speaker icon at the left upper corner is a mute/unmute button for sound. So I pressed this icon and it was changed for an icon with X and no audible sound of conference. But today I realise, that this button is not a mute button, it sends sound to different sources if any but icon with X means that you are sending sound to ear speaker and it activates proximity lock of your screen and touch sensor thinking that you will place you ear speaker near your...ear like with phonecall. 

I have the same exact problem on Android. It is maddening. It makes it so I can't use my phone at all during meetings.

 

I'm hopeful this will get fixed as it seems people are starting to review bomb Zoom specifically because this issue.

RichardG1875
Listener

Hi guys thanks for the suggestions and feedback. The only solution I have found;and its not a very good one is to turn off my sensors. To do that I had to enable developer options to turn them off. The draw back with that is I loosen all access to my camera so it's only half a.solution really. It should.be a simple 3nough update for.zoom to implement. Hopefully.they create a fix and add it to a future update asap.

 

zkazienk
Listener

As a followup. I have a Pixel 6 Pro.  I tried the develop options trick to disable sensors.  While it disables the proximity sensor and keeps the screen on, it also disables the mic on my bluetooth so i cant actually talk.  it works in a pinch when i want to use my phone while in a call so long as i dont need to talk.

This is not a viable fix for most users I hope someone from zoom take notice of this post and puts in an RFE option to disable proximity sensor.  its as easy as that.

This worked for me. It's wild to me that zoom for Android refuse to allow users to turn this "feature" off. Thanks a million though. This was driving me nuts because my front facing camera is embedded in the screen. They really need to fix this.

kel1
Listener

This problem is driving me insane. 🙃

Has anyone found a solution to this (which doesn't require you to disable the proximity sensor on your phone completely)?

 

In case a developer reads this, here is the problem:

  • When you're in a meeting on Android, if your hand moves too close to the device's proximity sensor, it turns the whole screen black 
  • This occurs when audio output is set to Bluetooth. The issue does not occur when the audio output is set to speaker.
  • This makes it functionally impossible to use your phone when on a Zoom meeting — you can't even click buttons in the Zoom meeting because it's quite difficult to avoid the proximity sensor

Dmitrii_G
Listener

Hi all,
I agree with the commentators above. It's just idiotic.
I didn't even understand why my screen kept turning off and on.
And it was only after googling this problem that I found this thread.

The Zoom team, correct this is very frustrating.

Mjambusaria
Listener

Same issue...pixel 6A

sorka95340
Listener

Same problem here. How can they not have fixed this? It makes using the phone impossible. This is a regression. It only started doing this a few months ago.

Zoomuser91
Listener

Yeah I've noticed the same thing. Zoom has a reputation of ignoring user feedback so we're basically outta luck lol. It's a matter of time before a better competitor comes along or else, god forbid, we might have to migrate back to Google Meets.

Babelfiske
Listener

First, SO grateful for all the replies here, even though there's not a FIX for the problem yet. Just knowing the why is helping. 

 

That being said, oh my goodness is this annoying! Here's some additional info for my specific case, should it help any potential investigations into a fix:

 

Using a Pixel 8.

Happens both while using Bluetooth for sound and just regular speaker audio for meetings (when my Bluetooth earbuds die).

 

I'm brand new to this forum (just found it looking for an explanation of this issue), but do technical issues posted here ever get resolved by Zoom? Wondering if it would be worth it to try and elicit a response on another platform. This proximity sensor issue is a HUGE pain, and something I'm encountering everyday. It's driving me crazy.

Dmitrii_G
Listener

Hi everyone,

 

Looks like this issue happens on Google Pixel devices (I am using a Pixel 7).

Owners of other Android devices with this issue please respond in this thread.

 

It seems to me that the Zoom team ignores the feedback give here.

I suggest lowering the Zoom app rating in the Google Play Store to 1 star and describing the issue there.

I believe this will attract more attention than complaints on this forum, which no one from the Zoom support pays attention to.

 

 

 

Yeah nice Idea. I try that alone since the first time I got this problem 2 years back, but somehow, few months after, my review gone

 

I then put again 1 star, by now I check, it's gone again

Maybe if there's many do the same, they will finally notice instead of just deleting our 1 star ratings.