Zoom on Mac may be recording you even when you're not using it

Apple users have begun reporting that Zoom is keeping their microphone on even when they just have the company's video conferencing software open in the background.

As reported by The Register, the issue seems to affect Zoom's native app installed on MacBooks and Macs running macOS Monterrey. 

The reason that Zoom users were able to discover that the app had their microphones on in the first place is because Apple recently implemented a visual cue to alert its users when an application or device is accessing either their microphone or camera. These visual alerts appear in the Menu Bar as an orange dot when the microphone is being used or as a green dot when the camera is being used.

Updated but not fixed

After macOS Monterrey was released late last year, Zoom users first noticed the issue and took to the company's Zoom Community support page to voice their concerns. This prompted Zoom to release an update at the end of December that was designed to address the bug.

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While the update's release notes say that Zoom version 5.9.1 (3506) “resolved an issue regarding the microphone light indicator being triggered when not in a meeting on macOS Monterey”, it appears that the fix didn't take with one user still seeing the orange dot after applying it, saying:

“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.”

The Register reached out to Zoom for a comment regarding this issue and a company spokesperson said it is looking into the matter.

With more people working from home than ever before, many users simply leave Zoom open so that they can be ready for their next call. However, until this issue is completely fixed, it's probably best to open the app before a call and close it immediately after.

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Via The Register

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