Update the Zoom app on your Mac to fix the bug that caused the mic to remain on after meetings

If you’re using Zoom on a Mac, now’s the time to make sure it’s updated to version 5.9.3. Zoom has acknowledged a bug that appears to cause the microphone on Macs running macOS Monterey to stay on even after leaving a meeting.

Several users noticed that the orange recording indicator light in the Control Center appears when Zoom isn’t being used — the indicator light is a privacy feature introduced in Monterey that warns you when an application is using your microphone. This obviously raised some privacy concerns, given Zoom had a serious privacy vulnerability on Macs in the past. In 2020, the company was accused of misleading users about offering end-to-end encryption when it really didn’t at the time.

 

 

Zoom first attempted to fix the bug in a December 5.9.1 update, as its release notes say Zoom “resolved an issue regarding the microphone light indicator being triggered when not in a meeting on macOS Monterey,” but it looks like this solution didn’t work for everyone.

The Zoom client for macOS 5.9.3, released on January 25, 2022, fixed a bug involving the failure to properly terminate the microphone use post-meeting,” Zoom spokesperson Matt Nagel said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “Zoom has determined that this bug did not result in audio data being transmitted back to Zoom’s platform. As always, we recommend users make sure their Zoom client is updated to the latest version.”