Does Zoom keep randomly unmuting your mic, and it’s driving you crazy?
That sucks! I can only imagine how annoying it must be not to be able to have privacy while on a videoconference. But then again, who knows? Maybe your Zoom is trying to make a career for you in public speaking.
Whatever the case, one thing’s for sure. You came for answers, and you’ll get them. Below, you’ll find a list of several simple steps that can help you get rid of this issue for good.
The 9 easy steps you can follow to stop Zoom from randomly unmuting your mic are:
Read on to stay quiet as a mouse!
Let’s start by making sure that the meeting’s host is not accidentally unmuting your mic.
As you probably know, during every videoconference there is a designated host that can control everything that goes on in the meeting. Whether it’s muting or unmuting participants, sharing their screen, or recording the session, this person can do it all.
As Uncle Ben used to say, with great power comes great responsibility. Having full control over a meeting and its participants might sound great, but due diligence is always required. Sometimes, the host can unmute your mic by accident without even noticing, which could cause a lot of trouble for you.
The best thing you can do in this situation is to respectfully ask the person in charge of the meeting to check if they’re unknowingly activating your mic.
Having ruled out the meeting’s host as the culprit, let’s take a look at what you might be doing to make this happen.
There’s a good chance that the reason Zoom is randomly unmuting your mic is that you’re accidentally using the space bar shortcut. This is especially likely if you’re typing something while in a meeting. In most cases, there’s not a special configuration to activate this. It simply happens when you voluntarily click on the mic icon to talk, and then forget to click somewhere else before typing again.
This can make Zoom keep using your space bar as a quick way to turn your mic on and off. The best way to counteract this is by clicking somewhere else in the Zoom window before switching over to Google Docs or other programs.
Sometimes, the answer might be simpler than you think.
There’s always the possibility that all you need to do to stop Zoom from randomly unmuting your mic is relaunching the platform.
You see, every time we use our apps or devices, a thousand background processes need to be running at the same time. In most cases, they work as expected and there’s nothing more to it. But sometimes one or more can crash.
That’s when things start getting weird.
In fact, events like these could explain this issue, and others, such as having Zoom keep disconnecting you, even on good Wi-Fi, stuttering audio, and much more.
By doing something as simple as relaunching the platform, you’ll be giving it a chance to reload its resources with a clean slate and get rid of anything that shouldn’t be there.
If you woke up this morning and thought, “Boy, I really can’t wait to update my apps!”, I’d honestly be very surprised. Most people don’t even think about this, as it seems unimportant.
But let me tell you that it’s vital to avoid issues.
Every time a new version of an app or network is released, several bugs are fixed, and newer features are installed. You don’t really want to miss out on that, do you?
Moreover, using an older version of this platform with devices that are fully up-to-date could easily explain why Zoom is randomly unmuting your mic.
And to make matters worse, failing to update Zoom can also cause you to keep being signed out, get blurry video, and much more.
Now, don’t panic. This should normally be done automatically, so in most cases, there’s nothing to worry about. However, sometimes a bug, a corrupted file, or a weak network can get in the way.
In that scenario, you’ll have to take matters into your own hands and install the latest Zoom version on your devices.
Solution: You can do this on all Zoom-capable devices. To paint you a picture, here’s what the process looks like on iOS and Android systems.
For iOS:
For Android:
If at any point you’re asked for permission to continue, just agree and sit tight.
Now that you have the latest Zoom version installed, let’s take a look at your devices. Believe it or not, keeping them updated is just as important as doing so for your apps.
After all, it’s the only way to make both pieces of the puzzle match.
Like Zoom, your favorite devices should normally not have to bother you with this, as they too are configured to update themselves. But, as you’ve learned, this isn’t always guaranteed.
If for whatever reason your devices remain outdated as time passes, you’ll have to take a closer look to keep Zoom from randomly unmuting your mic.
Solution: I’ll level with you. There are hundreds of streaming devices out there. Guiding you through the process of updating each one would take a lot of time, and I know you need quick answers.
This is why, instead, I’d recommend going to Google and searching for “How to update <Your Devices’ Make And Model Go Here>”.
To give you a general idea, here’s what this looks like on iOS:
At some point during your time using streaming platforms, you’ve probably read or heard about servers. However, if you haven’t got the faintest clue as to what they do, I’m more than happy to explain.
Servers are pieces of tech equipment that call many companies’ headquarters home. They’re normally used to back up data, manage user traffic, and provide uninterrupted online service. Given their key role in most operations, the people in charge of designing them work long hours trying to shield them from most difficulties.
And while the progress they’ve made is admirable, there’s still a long way to go before they’re perfect.
Things like coding bugs, hacking attempts, and even broken hard drives can cause the platform to act weird and start randomly unmuting your mic, showing you black screens, and much more.
Solution: To see if our suspicions are correct, we need to check the real-time status of the platform’s servers.
Here’s how you can do that:
Normally, small mountains appearing in the graph above are no big deal. But if you see sudden mile-high spikes, that’s when trouble starts.
This usually means that hundreds of users are reporting their Zoom is failing.
Now, although this sounds disastrous, it’s really not. In most cases, events like these go away within a day or so.
If nothing has worked so far, completely eliminating the platform and its files from your devices might do the trick.
You see, sometimes corrupted files or bugs hold on too tight to your system and won’t leave without a good fight. In such a case, no amount of restarting, relaunching, or updating will work.
I know this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but hey, now and then this might be the only way to get things back to normal.
I recommend having your Zoom login credentials written down somewhere before you do this.
Solution: Here are some easy steps you can follow to do this on PC and iOS devices.
For PC:
For iOS devices:
What if I told you that if Zoom is randomly unmuting your mic, it might not always be the platform’s fault?
You see, sometimes we use microphones that can be… unreliable to say the least. Many cheap mics out there come with several buttons to help you control Zoom much more easily. But in some cases, they can malfunction and cause your microphone to unmute, even when you don’t want it to.
I had this happen to me not too long ago, and after much exploration, I realized my headset was to blame.
Solution: Now, I’m not saying you should go out there and buy a $400 headset (in this economy? No, thank you). You could try borrowing one from a friend or a family member and see if the random unmuting stops.
Assuming that it does, you’ll have to buy a replacement.
If you want to upgrade, be my guest. But if you liked the headset you were using, you can buy the exact same model again. After all, it was not the device’s design that was at fault, right?
Last, but not least, let’s take a look at your security measures.
As technology has advanced, online threats and viruses have become more sophisticated. Older Antivirus software would be defenseless against today’s malicious files. But luckily, developers always stay a couple of steps ahead of cybercriminals.
These days, there are several companies that offer state-of-the-art antivirus and Firewall software that will keep you protected.
But as with everything else in life, this comes at a cost.
Sure, it’s very unlikely that any viruses infect your system with security software like this. But what if I told you that, along with suspicious files, your Antivirus might also be accidentally affecting how your microphone and webcam work?
You see, since Zoom is a communications platform, some software can see it as a threat and go to great lengths to keep it from using your input/output devices and communicating online. Now, personally, I’d rather have this inconvenience over an infected system, but hey, that’s just me.
If Zoom is randomly unmuting your mic, and you just can’t take it anymore, you can always create a Firewall exception to allow it to communicate with your system while staying protected from real threats.
Solution: Doing this is possible within any Antivirus software out there. To paint you a picture, here’s what this process looks like on Bitdefender. First, we’ll create an exception for Zoom, and then, we’ll allow both mic and webcam access.
To create Firewall exceptions:
To allow mic & webcam access:
5. On Bitdefender, click on the “Privacy” tab
6. On the new window, select Settings on “Video & Audio Protection”
7. Go to the “Audio Protection” tab, and select “Add application”. Once the pop-up window opens, find Zoom on your files and select it
That about sums it up!
Don’t you love when things work out? I bet that, when you came here, your hopes were not very high, but look at you now. Not only did you fix the issue that was troubling you, but also acquired some valuable knowledge for the future.
Hopefully, this piece helped you see that, when Zoom is randomly unmuting your mic, simple things, like updating the platform and asking the meeting’s host to double-check their settings, should do the trick.
I really appreciate you sticking with me all the way to the end. If you found this article enlightening, you’ll be happy to know that we upload new content every week. In the meantime, why not check out our other incredible resources below to become a Tech Detective yourself?
Best of luck to you.