Zoom has updated its app for Mac, after it was discovered that it kept the microphone on even after the meeting ended.
Actually, this is not a new problem, but everyone believed that it had been fixed with an update released last December, which spoke of a “microphone indicator issue when not in a meeting”.
However, as revealed by , the Zoom app still maintains control over the microphone when the meeting ends; something that the user can verify for himself thanks to the light that notifies the use of the microphone in the control center of macOS. This functionality was implemented by Apple to fight against spy apps, which can activate the microphone without being asked to capture our voice and conversations.
The company has reacted to this discovery by releasing yet another update, which brings the program to version 5.9.3; therefore, if you do not have that, it is best that you update as soon as possible. However, Zoom promises that it has not tried to spy on users.
According to Zoom representatives, the bug does not mean that the app has transmitted data to the company’s servers; the problem was that the program didn’t ‘drop’ the microphone properly once it was done using it for the meeting, so the indicator kept on.
This isn’t the first privacy-related issue for Zoom, and in fact, it’s not even the first that MacBook users have suffered; In 2019 another bug allowed the web pages we visited to capture our camera thanks to the Zoom app.
But that was forgotten when the global pandemic arrived, and Zoom became one of the most sought after apps on the planet due to the need to organize virtual meetings in companies and with family members. This sudden growth did not prevent Zoom from starring in many controversies; like when its CEO defended that video calls should not be encrypted for users of the free version in order to help the FBI and the authorities to capture “people with bad intentions”. A decision that was later reversed when for all users.
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