How to Mute and Unmute Your Microphone on Zoom

This guide will teach you how to easily mute and unmute your microphone during a Zoom meeting, whether you're using a computer, phone, or tablet. It will also show you how to set up Zoom so that your mic automatically mutes and how to use the Push to Talk feature, allowing you to temporarily unmute your mic when you want to speak. If you're the meeting host and want to mute everyone, check out the guide on how to mute all participants on Zoom.

Join or start a Zoom meeting. You can mute and unmute your mic during Zoom meetings on any device, including Mac, Windows, Android, and iPhone/iPad.

Click or tap the microphone icon. This icon is located at the bottom-left corner of the screen—if you can't see it, try clicking or tapping the screen to reveal the icons. When the microphone icon turns red and is crossed out, it means the mic is muted.

Click or tap the microphone icon again. If the mic was muted after your first click, pressing the icon again will unmute it. You can also refer to the guide on using the Push to Talk feature to temporarily unmute your mic.

Open Zoom on your computer, phone, or tablet. If you'd like your mic to stay muted by default when joining meetings, you can set this up in the settings menu.

Open the Settings section. On a computer, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the Zoom window. On a phone or tablet, tap the Settings icon at the bottom of the screen.

Click on the Audio (Sound, PC/Mac) or Meetings (Meetings, phone/tablet). The microphone settings and other options will appear.

Select the option to mute the mic. On a computer, tick the box next to "Mute my microphone when joining a meeting". On a phone or tablet, toggle the switch for "Always mute my microphone".

Open Zoom on your computer or Mac. The Push-to-Talk feature lets you temporarily unmute your microphone by pressing and holding the space bar. This feature is useful if you prefer to keep your mic muted most of the time during the meeting.

Click on the gear icon. This icon is located in the top-right corner of the Zoom window.

Click on the Audio (Sound) option in the menu. This option is found in the left-hand menu.

Tick the box next to the text "Press and hold the SPACE key to temporarily unmute yourself". Once you check this box, you’ll be able to press and hold the spacebar to unmute your mic when you want to speak. As soon as you release the spacebar, your mic will return to its muted state.

Join or start a Zoom meeting. Now that you’ve enabled the Push to Talk feature in the previous step, let’s test it out and see how it works.

• If your mic is still muted, click on the mic icon at the bottom-left corner to unmute.

Press and hold the spacebar while speaking. When you activate Push to Talk, you’ll see a large microphone icon appear on the screen, indicating that your mic is live.

• You won’t be able to use Push to Talk if the meeting host has not allowed participants to unmute themselves.
• Once you release the spacebar, your mic will go back to being muted.

• If you want to automatically mute your microphone when joining a meeting, you can check the option "Mute my microphone when joining a meeting" under the audio settings tab.