Turn off Center Stage on macOS with Apple Studio Display

[amalchandaria]

Hi there,

I'm running Zoom 5.11.11 on macOS Monterey 12.5, and have an Apple Studio Display. I've noticed the Center Stage feature is on when I'm in Zoom meetings (the camera tracks you as you move around), however I can't find any setting to turn it off. It seems that this setting does exist on iOS/iPad OS, but not on macOS. Is there a way to turn this off on Zoom on the Mac?

Thank you!

[Ray_Harwood]

Center Stage is an Apple feature, not something controlled by Zoom. 

Check this out:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212315 

[Bort]

@amalchandaria is correct that this can be controlled directly from the Zoom app on iOS, but unfortunately that control is not yet supported directly from the macOS desktop client. For now, you will have to disable Center Stage on macOS directly, as @Ray_Harwood provided. 

[Martha42]

And Apple support says it is a Zoom issue.    I can turn center stage on and off on every other app than Zoom.      I wrote to Zoom support and they didn't answer, yet marked my question as "solved"       Interesting customer support fail.

[Jay2001]

Very frustrating.  I have a Studio Display and the Center Stage is now flowing all over the place during meetings.  There seems to be no way to turn it off.  The link that Ray provided doesn't address it either.   I don't have this problem with any other use of Center Stage.  So I do think Zoom should get a bit more involved and provide a resolution.

[melissabeaumont]

This feature to disable centre stage doesn't work on macOS with zoom open

[jcway]

Same here. In older versions I turned it off but the zoom suggestions dont seem to work with Mac Studio Display right now. Please fix this!

[chris52]

Same here. The Turn On Center Stage does not come as an option in Zoom, and although I deactivate it in the FaceTime configuration, it persists on Zoom.

[eearle]

This just worked for me, using zoom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOYBEbewyRc

[CallieDN]

Thank you - so easy when you know how! Just click on the green camera button next to Zoom (when you're live in Zoom) on the top right of your Studio Display 👏

[SM03]

Thank you this was very easy to follow!!

[watermoon]

Not an option on Sequoia 15.1 😢

[Shazoom]

I have a brand new iMac, running Sequoia 15.2 and I did find turning off Center Stage to be an option. I'll write up detailed instructions and post those.

[Vicki30]

thank you so much for this link and info.  it worked great. 

[mikehalloran]

What green button at the top right?

[Shazoom · Accepted solution]

I searched and searched for the answer to "How to turn off Center Stage on a Mac". Eventually I figured it out. I’m on an iMac (not a Studio Display). Since we can’t upload a screen capture here, I’ll describe turning off the Center Stage feature in detail.

With Zoom open, at the very top of the Mac screen (in the area Apple calls the "Menu Bar")… For me, the date & time is the furthest to the right. To the left of the date & time, is an icon for Control Center, icon for Spotlight search, icon for WiFi, icon for Bluetooth (your icons may vary depending on your System Settings). Then, the Zoom icon (a little blue circle with ZM in the center). To the left of THAT is an icon that represents a camera — it has a green background and a graphic that's supposed to look like the side-view of an old-fashioned movie camera facing to the right… a white square with a small white triangle on the right side. THAT is the green camera “button” people have been referring to here. When I click on it, a drop-down menu appears. At the top is the Zoom logo with zoom.us next to it. Below that is a thumbnail of whatever your camera is viewing (probably your face). Below that are the words "iMac Camera". And below that are menu choices with icons:

Center Stage

Portrait

Studio Light

Reactions

Background

Desk View…

If you click on the icon to the right of the words “Center Stage”, it turns off (and on) the Center Stage feature. I hope these details help someone.

[SuZen]

OMG Thank you so much. I just spent nearly the past hour trying to turn this off. None of the other options were available to me on my MacBook Pro. For anyone who wants the easiest solution this is it - top right see green camera (further left icon) click and turn off center stage. How annoying to not find it in any other video setting. Thank you Thank you! I was losing my mind!!!

[jayssss]

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions!

[tomryan]

THANK YOU, holy crap

[jcway]

Thanks for such detailed info! Weirdly, I see nothing next the zoom icon (blue circle w the zm on it). No green camera at all. I'm on a Studio Mac Display (Ventura OS). When I go to the Video Effects it looks like Portrait is selected. I'm at a loss how to get that camera icon in the Menu Bar? Thanks for any help anyone can offer!!

[Shazoom]

Huh. I'm sorry that didn't help you solve the issue. I was fiddling around trying to find a solution for you and just discovered that the camera icon doesn't appear in the Menu Bar until I started a Zoom meeting. Have you tried that? Open Zoom and start a New Meeting (without inviting any guests). That camera icon should only appear when the camera is active. Mine is active when I start the meeting and the icon appears in the Menu Bar, but when I click on the "stop video" within Zoom, the camera icon goes away.

I also just discovered that the camera icon is identical to the FaceTime app's icon (I don't use FaceTime on my Mac or hardly ever at all so I hadn't realized that). When I open FaceTime, I do see that camera icon in the Menu Bar and there is an option in the dropdown menu for Center Stage. Try opening FaceTime and see if that camera icon appears.

I don't know where you're going "to the Video Effects" and seeing "Portrait is selected". There is, as I described in my detailed message, "Portrait" in the dropdown menu -- just below "Center Stage", but I don't know how you'd get to that if you can't see the camera icon.

I did a Google search for "Video Effects on a Mac" and then found this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/111102

See if any of this helps you. Good luck.

(Oh, and my Mac is new and running system Sequoia. Not sure if that makes a difference.)

[jcway]

Thanks so much and great idea to start a New Meeting, but unfortunately it still won't appear. I did try FaceTime before and the camera icon shows up in that app! As for Video Effects, I found it within the Control Settings menu dropdown in my Menu Bar (looks like 2 stacked slider buttons), but weirdly now there's no Video Effects now (just Bluetooth/WiFi/AirDrop , so I must have changed something, argh. Such a process, but I so appreciate you taking the time to try and help!!

[Shazoom]

Wow, sorry this has been such a pain! I do have Control Settings in my Menu Bar, but with my current system, the Video Effects isn't there. As Apple changes the system, they change lots of other stuff and though some are improvements, mostly it throws a wrench into the flow of most users. I've had Macs for over 35 years and there have been SO many changes! So... not sure where the setting is on your particular Mac and system to turn off the very annoying Center Stage thing. I haven't yet heard of anyone liking that feature.

[jcway]

Wait!! Figured it out! I l created a New Meeting in zoom and THEN tried the Control Center in the Menu Bar and within that I had a choice for turning off Center Stage and choosing Portrait. Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction. Have to look again to see if the green camera icon is there but in the meantime, I turned it off that way and I'm so relieved-- many thanks!

[Shazoom]

Hooray! That's team work! No camera icon in my Control Center. They moved stuff around. So glad you figured it out!

[mikehalloran]

Nevermind, I found it — closer to the center of my screen. Click on it and the option to turn Center Stage On/Off appears. I spent over 45 minutes searching this site and with the chatbot not finding this simple answer. The ones I kept receiving were for iOS and iPadOS — they were wrong. I would post a screenshot if I could.

[nzgoldie]

When using any video app, including Zoom, a green camera icon will appear in the menu bar at the top of the screen. The icon is on the right end of the menu bar. Clicking that icon will give you a menu of options including turning Center Stage on/off.

[mikehalloran]

i know that now thanks to an earlier post.

Unfortunately, Zoom Support didn't know this. They kept sending me to the instructions for the iPhone and iPad and those do not apply to the Mac.

[jeric]

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@amalchandaria wrote:

Hi there,

I'm running Zoom 5.11.11 on macOS Monterey 12.5, and have an Apple Studio Display. I've noticed the Center Stage feature is on when I'm in Zoom meetings (the camera tracks you as you move around), however I can't find any setting to turn it off. It seems that this setting does exist on iOS/iPad OS, but not on macOS. Is there a way to turn this off on Zoom on the Mac?

Thank you!

---

Turn off Center Stage in System Settings > Displays > Camera Options.

[mikehalloran]

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@jeric wrote:

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@amalchandaria wrote:

Hi there,

I'm running Zoom 5.11.11 on macOS Monterey 12.5, and have an Apple Studio Display. I've noticed the Center Stage feature is on when I'm in Zoom meetings (the camera tracks you as you move around), however I can't find any setting to turn it off. It seems that this setting does exist on iOS/iPad OS, but not on macOS. Is there a way to turn this off on Zoom on the Mac?

Thank you!

---

Turn off Center Stage in System Settings > Displays > Camera Options.

---

Not on any Mac that I own.

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@jeric wrote:

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@amalchandaria wrote:

Hi there,

I'm running Zoom 5.11.11 on macOS Monterey 12.5, and have an Apple Studio Display. I've noticed the Center Stage feature is on when I'm in Zoom meetings (the camera tracks you as you move around), however I can't find any setting to turn it off. It seems that this setting does exist on iOS/iPad OS, but not on macOS. Is there a way to turn this off on Zoom on the Mac?

Thank you!

---

Turn off Center Stage in System Settings > Displays > Camera Options.

 a green camera icon will appear in the menu bar at the top of the screen

---

That is where you turn off/on Center Stage

[mikehalloran]

Turn off Center Stage in System Settings > Displays > Camera Options.

Not on any Apple Silicon Mac that I own.

Find the green camera icon at or near the top of the screen. Click on it and you'll see how to turn Center Stage off/on. If we could post screen shots, I would do so.