What to do if with Zoom the microphone does not work. Today with this new guide for Android devices, we will see what to do if with Zoom the microphone does not work. Zoom Cloud Meetings, better known by just the name Zoom, is one of the video calling services that has had a lot of use in recent years, as it has been used for both work and school issues, due to the fact that it allowed people to be able to work and attend classes without the need to all meet together in a room. Several users with Android smartphones, however, complained that during video calls the microphone did not work with Zoom and thus they could hear what was being said by other participants in the call, but trying to talk no one could hear them because of the problem encountered with the microphone. If you are also experiencing the microphone not working when using the Zoom app on your Android smartphone, the causes why this is happening can be different and in this guide we will see several solutions that will allow you to have the microphone working again on Zoom.
Zoom allows you to make group video calls even with many people at the same time. Through the app available for Android, in order to participate in a meeting you do not even need to be connected to a computer, but just download the appropriate app, then join the video call. Through Zoom, it is possible to both hear what is being said by others and to talk to each other with the use of the smartphone’s microphone, but if this does not work, the user will only be able to listen and will not be able to be heard. If the microphone in your Zoom app is not working, with this guide we will see to find the problem causing the malfunction and what are the solutions I recommend you follow to get the microphone working again with the Zoom app for Android.
test if your smartphone microphone works
The first thing you should do, if you notice that whoever is on the other end in a video call on Zoom can’t hear you, is to test if the microphone is working. You can perform a microphone test in your Android smartphone in several ways:
- You can make a phone call to someone and see if people can hear you that way.
- You can record audio using an app that allows sound recording
- If you use the Google Assistant app, you can use voice commands
- You can record a video with the phone’s camera and talk to easily understand if the microphone is working
- These are some methods for you to figure out if your smartphone’s microphone is working properly. If you notice that the microphone is working, there is probably something wrong with the Zoom app. If, on the other hand, the microphone does not work with any kind of app that requires its use, there is likely a fault or although it may happen in very rare cases, the microphone may be clogged by something (dirt, dust, etc.). If the microphone does not work, the only thing you can do to get it working again might be to go to a closer service center. If you notice instead that the microphone works with all the applications you try it with except Zoom, then move on to the next solution.
restart the phone
If you notice that the microphone is not working only with Zoom, while with other apps there are no problems and it works perfectly, it could be the Zoom app that has temporarily gone haywire and the microphone is not working for this reason. Without going to great lengths, restart the smartphone, this will reboot both the Android OS and apps from scratch and if there was any minor problem it should be fixed.
Then long press on the smartphone’s power button, from the menu that appears press on the “reboot” item and wait. When the phone reboot is finished, connect to Zoom and see if the microphone is now working. If a smartphone restart was not enough to get the microphone working again in the Zoom app for Android, you can then try the other solution below.
Make sure you have given the Zoom app permissions to access the microphone
The Zoom app does not have direct access to the microphone after it is installed on the phone, but it is the user who gives it permission to be able to use the microphone. If you have not given Zoom permission to be able to access the microphone, it will not be able to use it to let others hear you, so you will have to give it permission manually. Don’t worry, it’s nothing complicated, you’ll just need to follow these steps you find listed to allow Zoom to access your smartphone’s microphone.
To give Zoom permission to be able to access an Android smartphone’s microphone:
- Go to the Settings app on your Android phone
- Go to Apps now
- Select All apps now to view the list with all the apps you have installed on your smartphone
- You can use the search bar to search for Zoom or you can scroll down the list alphabetically to the letter “Z” where you will find Zoom
- Once you find the Zoom app in the list, you have to press on it with your finger to access the screen with the app’s information
- Now tap on Permissions and you will be shown two lists: Allowed and Denied. If you have not given Zoom permission to access the microphone, you will find this item under Rejected Permissions
- Press on Microphone (which should be under Rejected currently) and select Allowed
- Go back by pressing on the arrow in the upper left corner
- Now under Allowed you should see the entry Microphone and Zoom can now access it
- All you have left to do is log into the Zoom app and see if the microphone is now working properly
update the Zoom app
You may have correctly given the Zoom app permissions to be able to access the smartphone microphone, but they still can’t hear you on the other end during a video conference. The problem may be in the app, more specifically a bug that prevents the microphone from working during a video call.
In that case you should update the Zoom app to the new version available this way:
- Connect from your phone to the Google Play Store
- Search for the Zoom app
- Then press the Update button if available
- Once Zoom has been updated, if the bug has been fixed the microphone should work again and people should hear you during the video call
- What to do if the microphone doesn’t work with Zoom: clear the cache
One or more of the Zoom app’s temporary cache files may be corrupted or conflict with each other, and the microphone may not work because of this when you use the app. If you have never cleared Zoom’s cache and use the app often, it is likely that a lot of temporary files have accumulated, so I recommend that you clear the cache and then test the microphone’s operation.
To clear the cache of Zoom for Android follow these steps:
- Go to Settings on your phone
- Go to Apps > All apps > Zoom
- Tap on the Archive item
- Now press the Clear Cache button.
- What to do if the microphone doesn’t work with Zoom: reinstall the Zoom app on your smartphone
A corrupt file found in the Zoom app may not make your smartphone’s microphone work when you are on a video call. In that case you might also get an error message, but this is not always the case. I recommend as a last resort that you uninstall the Zoom app and do a clean re-install, that way if any files in the app were corrupted and not allowing you to be heard with the microphone, the problem should be resolved.
You can uninstall the Zoom app from your Android smartphone:
- By going to the page in the Zoom Play Store.
- Then press the Uninstall button to delete the Zoom app from your phone
- Once you have deleted the app from your phone, the Install button will appear on the Play Store. Press on it with your finger to start the download
- Once the Zoom app is installed and set up, try to see if the microphone now works
conclusions
Zoom Cloud Meetings, is a great app for being able to make video calls between multiple users, but like all available apps, it may give problems sooner or later. In this guide in particular we covered the microphone not working during a video call with Zoom, and above are all the solutions that worked best with users who experienced the problem. All that remains for you to do is to follow the solutions seen above and see which one works best for you. Until the next guide
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