How to Mute On the Zoom?

2

You can easily mute any participants on a Zoom call if you’re the host.

  • You can mute yourself on Zoom by clicking the microphone icon, whether you’re using the desktop or mobile app.
  • The host of the Zoom meeting can also mute any participants by clicking the microphone icon on that participant’s video’s feed.
  • This story is a part of Business Insider’s Guide to Zoom.
    You may wish to mute yourself or others on Zoom, especially if you are in a large group meeting. With the various options on both the desktop and mobile app, you can choose to mute yourself, an individual caller, or all participants on the call. The process looks a bit different on either app, but involves tapping or clicking the mute symbol. You can also open the “Manage Participants” menu to mute or unmute all members. It’s important to note that you will only have the ability to mute or unmute others if you are the host of the meeting. Participants do not have the ability to mute others, though they can of course mute themselves. Depending on the settings, your participants will get pop-up alerts that read, “The host would like to mute/unmute your microphone.” As a participant, you’ll have the option to stay muted or to unmute yourself.

How to mute on Zoom on a computer

1. On a desktop Zoom call, move your cursor for options to appear on the Zoom participant squares. This will also reveal the bottom toolbar.
2. Click the “Mute” microphone option in the bottom left corner. Click again to unmute. This mutes your own microphone — others on the call will no longer be able to hear you.

image1_mute

Mute yourself.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
3. Hover over a participant for options to appear on their rectangle. Click the blue “Mute” button to mute this participant. You can also right click or click the three dots to open a pop-up menu. Click “Mute Audio.” Once a participant is muted, you can follow the same steps to unmute.

image2_mute

Mute another participant.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
4. To manage all of your participants as the meeting host, you can click the “Manage Participants” tab at the bottom toolbar. A number will indicate how many people are currently on the call.

image3 mute

You can manage your participants if you’re the host.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
5. This will open a sidebar with each of the participants next to microphone and video icons. The host will be labeled as well.

image4 mute

You can view the participants menu.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
6. As the host, you can hover over a microphone to mute that individual participant. A blue “Mute” or “Unmute” button will appear.

image5 mute

You can choose to mute an individual.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
7. You can also click the “Mute All” or “Unmute All” options at the bottom. This will open a pop-up. You can check the box which will allow participants to unmute themselves. If so, callers will receive a message that reads, “The host would like to mute/unmute your microphone,” when you make changes.
8. Click “Continue” to complete the change.

image6 mute

You can also mute all participants.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider

How to mute on Zoom on a mobile device

1. On a current call in the mobile app, tap to reveal the bottom menu. You’ll see the mute microphone icon in the bottom left hand corner. Tap this to mute just yourself.
image7_mute
Mute your profile on your mobile device.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
2. You can also tap the volume button in the upper left hand corner so an “X” appears over the speaker icon. However, this will just mute the sound on this device app — it’s important to note this is not the same as muting yourself or other participants. Tap this option again to play sound again. Tap the “Unmute” microphone icon in the bottom left hand corner to unmute yourself.
3. To manage all of the video participants, tap the “Participants” tab at the bottom.
4. This will open a pop-up. Tap an individual participant to mute their audio. The microphone icons next to individual names will reflect changes. Tap their name again and tap “Unmute Audio” to reverse the change.
image9 mute.PNG
Mute an individual person.
Marissa Perino/Business Insider
5. To mute all participants, tap “Mute All” in the bottom right hand corner, then tap the blue “Mute All” button to confirm the change. You can check the option to allow participants to unmute themselves if you’d like.
6. Tap the “Unmute All” option to undo the action.
7. Tap “Close” to close the Participants window when you’re done.
image10 mute.PNG
As the host or co-host in a meeting, you can manage your participants, including muting and unmuting participants to manage background noise and distractions. All participants can also mute or unmute themselves, unless the host has prevented them from unmuting. Due to privacy and security reasons, the host cannot unmute other participants without their consent. The host can either use the Ask All to Unmute option, which will prompt every user to unmute themselves, or can schedule the meeting with Request permission to unmute participants enabled, which will prompt the participants for pre-approval to be unmuted by the host.
The host or co-host can mute all participants that are already in the meeting, as well as new participants joining the meeting.

  1. Click Participants located in the meeting controls.
  2. Click Mute All.
  3. Click Mute All to mute all current and new participants.
  4. (Optional) Check Allow participants to unmute themselves if you would like participants to be able to unmute at any time during the meeting.

Asking all participants to unmute

The host and co-host can also request everyone in the meeting to unmute themselves. This allows the participants to choose if they are ready to be unmuted or wish to remain muted.

  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Start a meeting.
  3. Click Participants located in the meeting controls.
  4. Click More, then click Ask All to Unmute from the list.

    All other participants will then be prompted to Unmute or Stay Muted.

Enabling pre-approved consent to be unmute

You can enable the Request permission to unmute participants option, which is displayed when scheduling a meeting. Selecting this option will display a prompt when participants join the meeting. The prompt will ask for permission to allow the host to mute or unmute them. Permissions, once given, will apply in all meetings scheduled by the same host. This setting is also available at the account or group.

Account

To enable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for all users in the account:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with permission to edit account settings.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.
  3. In the Meeting tab, navigate to the Request permission to unmute option (under the In Meeting (Advanced) section) and verify that the setting is enabled.
    4.Note*: If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On to verify the change.
  4. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in your account, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.
    6.Note*: Users must have client/app version 5.2.1 or higher to see the option when scheduling.

Group

To enable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for all members of a specific group:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with permission to edit user groups.
  2. In the navigation menu, click User Management then Group Management.
  3. Click the name of the group, then click the Meeting tab to access settings.
  4. In the Meeting tab, navigate to the Request permission to unmute option (under the In Meeting (Advanced) section) and verify that the setting is enabled.
    5.Notes* :
  • If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On to verify the change.
  • If the setting is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level, and needs to be changed at that level.
  1. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in your account, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

User

To enable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for your own use:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  3. In the Meeting tab, navigate to the Request permission to unmute option (under the In Meeting (Advanced) section) and verify that the setting is enabled.
    4.Notes* :
  • If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On to verify the change.
  • If the setting is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level, and needs to be changed at that level.

Using pre-approved consent to be unmute

  1. Schedule a meeting.
  2. Under Meeting Options, check the Request permission to unmute participants option.
    When the meeting starts, participants will be prompted to provide consent to be unmuted by the host:

    If the participant provides consent to be unmuted, you will have the option to unmute each person individually as needed from the participants list.
    Note: Once consent has been given to a host, any future meetings with this host and this setting enabled will have the same pre-approved consent. Meetings without this setting will require the host to ask each participant to unmute themselves. If the participants doesn’t provide consent, you will see the regular Ask to Unmute / Mute options in the participants list.

Revoking consent to be unmuted (participant)

Participants can revoke this consent at any time in the client settings or while in a meeting.

Windows | macOS | Linux

Client settings

  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Click your profile picture, then click Settings .
  3. Click on Audio .
  4. Click on Manage next to People who can unmute you.

    You will see a list of hosts you’ve given consent to in past meetings.
  5. Select a host from the list, then click Remove to revoke the consent.

In-meeting controls

If you provided consent when before joining a meeting, you can revoke it while in the meeting.

  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Join a meeting and provide consent to be unmuted.
  3. Click the up arrow ^ next to Mute / Ummute.
  4. Click View People Who can Unmute You.
  5. Select a host from the list, then click Remove to revoke the consent.