Muting or unmuting participants in a meeting

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 schedule the meeting with Request permission to unmute participants enabled, which will prompt the participants for pre-approval to be unmuted by the host.

Requirements for muting or unmuting participants in a meeting

Table of Contents

How to mute or unmute participants

Windows | macOS | Linux

Mute specific participants

To mute a specific participant in the meeting:
 
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host, or join a meeting and be assigned the co-host role by the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. Hover over a participant and click one of these options:
    • Ask to Unmute: Display a prompt for the participant that asks them to unmute. The participant can click Unmute in the prompt to unmute.
    • Unmute: Instantly unmute the participant without displaying a prompt.
      Note: This option is only available if you enable pre-approved consent to be unmuted and the participant provided consent.
    • Mute: Mute the participant.

Mute all participants

To mute all participants in the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host, or join a meeting and be assigned the co-host role by the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click Mute all.
    A confirmation window will appear.
  5. (Optional) To prevent participants from unmuting themselves after you mute them, clear the Allow participants to unmute themselves check box in the confirmation window. Participants will not be able to unmute themselves. When they try to unmute their audio, they will receive a notification that the host is not allowing participants to unmute themselves.
  6. Click Mute all.

Mute all participants when they join

To mute all participants when they join the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host, or join a meeting and be assigned the co-host role by the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click More.
  5. Click the Mute all upon entry toggle to enable it.
    A confirmation window will appear.
  6. (Optional) To prevent participants from unmuting themselves after you mute them, clear the Allow participants to unmute themselves check box in the confirmation window. Participants will not be able to unmute themselves. When they try to unmute their audio, they will receive a notification that the host is not allowing participants to unmute themselves.
  7. Click Continue.
    When participants join the meeting, their audio will be muted. This option will not mute the audio of participants who have already joined.

Ask all participants to unmute

To ask all participants to unmute themselves:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host, or join a meeting and be assigned the co-host role by the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click More.
  5. Click Ask all to unmute.
    Participants will be prompted to unmute their audio. They can choose to stay muted or unmute themselves.
Android | iOS

Mute specific participants

To mute a specific participant in the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Start a meeting.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, tap the Participants icon .
  4. Tap on a participant, and tap one of these options:
    • Ask to Unmute: Display a prompt for the participant that asks them to unmute. The participant can click Unmute in the prompt to unmute.
    • Unmute: Instantly unmute the participant without displaying a prompt.
      Note: This option is only available if you enable pre-approved consent to be unmuted and the participant provided consent.
    • Mute: Mute the participant.

Mute all participants

  1. Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, tap the More icon .
  4. Tap the Participants icon .
  5. In the top-right corner of the Participants panel, tap the ellipsis icon .
  6. Tap Mute all.
    A pop-up window will appear, giving you the option to allow participants to unmute themselves after you mute them.
  7. (Optional) To prevent participants from unmuting themselves after you mute them, tap No.
    Participants will not be able to unmute themselves. When they try to unmute their audio, they will receive a notification that the host is not allowing participants to unmute themselves.

Mute all participants when they join

  1. Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, tap the More icon .
  4. Tap Host tools .
  5. Tap General.
  6. Tap the Mute all upon entry toggle to enable it.
    When participants join the meeting, their audio will be muted. This option will not mute the audio of participants who have already joined.

Ask all participants to unmute

  1. Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Start a meeting as the host, or join a meeting and be assigned the co-host role by the host.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, tap the More icon .
  4. Tap Participants.
  5. In the top-right corner of the Participants panel, tap the ellipsis icon .
  6. Tap Ask all to unmute.
    Participants will be prompted to unmute their audio. They can choose to stay muted or unmute themselves.
Web app

Mute specific participants

To mute a specific participant in the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web app.
  2. Start a meeting.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. Hover over a participant and click one of these options:

Mute all participants

To mute all participants in the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web app.
  2. Start a meeting.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click Mute all.
    A confirmation window will appear.
  5. (Optional) To prevent participants from unmuting themselves after you mute them, clear the Allow participants to unmute themselves check box in the confirmation window. Participants will not be able to unmute themselves. When they try to unmute their audio, they will receive a notification that the host is not allowing participants to unmute themselves.
  6. Click Continue.

Mute all participants when they join

To mute all participants when they join the meeting:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web app.
  2. Start a meeting.

  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .

  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click More.
  5. Click Mute all upon entry.
    A confirmation window will appear.
  6. (Optional) To prevent participants from unmuting themselves after you mute them, clear the Allow participants to unmute themselves check box in the confirmation window. Participants will not be able to unmute themselves. When they try to unmute their audio, they will receive a notification that the host is preventing participants from unmuting themselves.
  7. Click Continue.
    When participants join the meeting, their audio will be muted. This option will not mute the audio of participants who have already joined.

Ask all participants to unmute

To ask all participants to unmute themselves:
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web app.
  2. Start a meeting.
  3. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Participants icon .
  4. At the bottom of the Participants list, click More.
  5. Click Ask all to unmute.
    Participants will be prompted to unmute their audio. They can choose to stay muted or unmute themselves.

How to enable or disable pre-approved consent to be unmuted

You can enable or disable 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.

Enable or disable Request permission to unmute for the entire account

This setting allows account owners or admins to enable or disable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for all users in the account.
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin with the privilege to edit account settings.
  2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click Admin Center.
  3. In the side menu, click Settings .
  4. Click Meeting.
  5. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Request permission to unmute toggle to enable or disable it.
  6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
  7. (Optional) To prevent all users in your account from changing this setting, click the lock icon , and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Enable or disable Request permission to unmute for a group of users

This setting allows account owners or admins to enable or disable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for a specific group of users. Changes apply only to users in the selected group.
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin.
  2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click Admin Center.
  3. In the navigation menu, click Users .
  4. Click Groups.
  5. Click the applicable group name from the list.
  6. Click the Meeting tab.
  7. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Request permission to unmute toggle to enable or disable it.
  8. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level and needs to be changed at that level.
  9. (Optional) To prevent all users in the group from changing this setting, click the lock icon , and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Enable or disable Request permission to unmute for your personal account

This setting allows individual users to enable or disable the pre-approved consent to unmute feature for their personal account.
  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click My account.
  3. In the navigation menu, click Settings .
  4. Click Meeting.
  5. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Request permission to unmute toggle to enable or disable it.
  6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You cannot change it yourself and must contact your Zoom admin.

How to use pre-approved consent to unmute

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the top-right corner, click the Zoom Products icon .
  3. In the Zoom Products menu, click Meetings .
    Zoom Meetings will open in a new browser tab.
  4. In the side menu, click Upcoming.
  5. In the top-right, click Schedule a Meeting.
    Zoom Meetings will open in a new browser tab.
  6. Apply meeting details as needed, such as topic, date, and time.
  7. Next to Options, click Show.
  8. Select the checkbox to enable Request permission to unmute participants.
    Note: When the meeting starts, participants will be prompted to provide consent to be unmuted by the host. If the participant consents to be unmuted, you can unmute each person individually as needed from the participants list.
    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 don't provide consent, you will see the regular Ask to Unmute / Muteoptions in the participants list.

Revoking consent to be unmuted (participant)

If Request permission to unmute is enabled, participants can revoke this consent at any time in the app settings or while in a meeting.
Windows | macOS | Linux
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Click your profile picture, then click Settings.
  3. Click the Audio tab .
  4. Next to People who can unmute you, click Manage.
    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 before joining a meeting, you can revoke it while in the meeting.
  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
  2. Join a meeting and provide consent to be unmuted.
  3. Click the up arrow  next to Audio.
  4. Click View people who can Unmute You.
  5. Select a host from the list, then click Remove to revoke the consent.
iOS
  1. Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.
  2. In the top-left corner, tap your profile picture.
  3. Tap Settings.
  4. Tap Meetings.
  5. Under the IN-MEETING EXPERIENCE, tap People who can unmute you.
    You will see a list of hosts you've given consent to in past meetings.
  6. Tap Remove next to the name of the host you want to revoke consent for.
    Note: If you are in a meeting, you will need to leave and rejoin for this consent to be revoked.