Camera switching to phone unprompted

[abbey_thorpe]

I just posted this commented on a more general thread Problems with the Zoom update but realized my issue is specific enough to probably be a separate post.

Problem details
Three times during a 30 min zoom call, camera turned off without me noticing because my mic was still working normally. Each time, my iphone pinged (even on silent) and I saw a screen asking me to give permissions for my phone camera. Can't figure out why it's switching over, zoom app is not open on my phone. I am signed into the same apple account on both devices so that explains how it's switching to my phone, but not why it did it in the first place.

I was typing notes so maybe I pressed a button by accident that caused the switch? But I'm not aware of any shortcuts for this, I didn't know that using the mic on my laptop and the camera on my phone at the same time was even an option.

Troubleshooting
I am a frequent Zoom & Discord user and have never seen this before today. I tried sitting in an empty zoom meeting for the 5-10 mins I spent writing this post to see if I could replicate the issue, but I did not experience the camera switch.

This morning when it happened, I always noticed my camera was off after someone stopped screensharing. It might only be happening when another participant shares their screen? When someone screen shares, zoom switches to fullscreen for me, then switches back when they stop sharing. Maybe the mac camera is disconnecting during the switch and then Zoom tries the next available camera instead? I'm not actually sure if it's a zoom issue or a mac issue, I haven't updated my MacOS or iOS in a while and looks like my Zoom version is from Jan 2024.

Device info
Zoom version 5.17.5 (29101)
2019 Macbook Pro, macOS Ventura 13.6.1 (22G313)

iPhone SE, iOS 17.4.1