How to manage camera and mic permissions on your desktop

If you use Zoom, Google Meet, or any other video conferencing app, chances are at some point you’ll find yourself desperately trying to figure out why your microphone is muted or your camera isn’t working. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of checking the mute or camera buttons in your app, but if that doesn’t work, you may need to manage audio and video permissions in your operating system or browser.

The good news is that these permissions are not too difficult to manage, no matter what operating system or browser you are using. You can grant permissions to sites that need them and block others that you don’t trust enough to have access to your camera and microphone. Below, we cover how to manage permissions for macOS, Windows, and four of the most popular browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox.

(By the way, if you’re having trouble with video, one of the first things you might want to do is check that your webcam lens cover is open; you’ll be surprised how often you can forget to do this.)

If the audio and video settings are not configured correctly in your operating system, they will not work for any applications, so if you are having a general problem, it is a good idea to check there first.

• To check the speaker and microphone settings, go to Settings > System > Sound.
• To view your video, go to Settings > System > Privacy and security > Camerawhere you can select which installed apps and web apps can access your camera.

• On macOS, the relevant options for audio are found in System Settings… > Sound.
• For video, go to System Settings… > Privacy and Security > Camera to choose which apps can access the camera.

If none of these solutions solve your problems, here’s how to check your browser settings.

If you’re using Chrome, the first time a website needs your computer’s webcam or microphone, a small window will appear just to the left of the URL bar. Click Allow to grant permission.

You can also allow or block these permissions at any time by doing the following:

• Click the icon to the left of the URL bar – it will be a padlock for HTTPS-protected sites or a triangle for non-HTTPS sites.
• Choose Site Settings from the window that appears to see all permissions for the site you are currently on.
• Open the drop-down list next to Camera either Microphone to access the three options: Ask (you will be prompted each time access is needed), Alloweither Block.

You can also control settings for camera and microphone access on all sites at once.

• Click Privacy & Security to the left then Site Settings.
• Click Camera either Microphone. Here you can disable them completely so that sites can’t even request their use. The same screens also allow you to view and manage which sites currently have these permissions.

When it comes to muting sites, in Chrome, this is handled by right-clicking on the site tab header. Then you can choose Mute site either Unmute the site as necessary. If a site is playing audio, a speaker icon appears in its tab and will have a line through it if the audio is currently muted.

In Edge, when a site for which you haven’t previously set permissions needs the camera or microphone, a dialog box requesting access appears on the left edge of the URL bar. At this point you can click Allow either Block respectively.

You can also allow or block these permissions at any time by doing the following:

• Click the icon to the left of the URL bar, which will be a padlock if the site supports HTTPS or a triangle symbol if it doesn’t.
• Click Permissions for this siteand a list appears showing all the permissions the site currently has or does not have, including Camera and Microphone.
• Click the menu next to any permission to have the site. Ask whenever access is required, or set the permission to Allow either Block.

You can also control settings for camera and microphone access on all sites at once.

• Choose Cookies and site permissions from the navigation list on the left.
• Select Camera either Microphone (or any other permission) to see which sites they have access to and which sites have been blocked from accessing them.
• You can also block the ability to request access permission on all sites by turning off the option Ask before accessing toggle switch.

Finally, there is the silencing of the site. Right-click a tab header and then choose Mute tab silence it; right click on a tab header and then choose Unmute tab do the opposite. A speaker icon on a tab indicates that it is playing audio and a little x next to the speaker means that the audio is currently muted.

When a site in Safari needs a permission for the first time, such as camera or microphone access, a dialog box appears. You can choose Allow application, Do not allow the request, or choose Never stop this website to deny access and block future requests.

You can also allow or block these permissions at any time by doing the following:

• Open the Safari menu and choose Settings > Websites.
• Click Camera either Microphone to see a list of sites where this permission has been granted or blocked.
• Use the drop-down lists on the right to grant or deny permission or to have the site request permission whenever necessary.

You can also control settings for camera and microphone access on all sites at once.

• At the bottom of the dialog there is another drop-down list to manage this permission on each site. The options are Ask (request permission), Deny (always blocks access), and Allow (always grant access when necessary).

When it comes to muting sites, any site that plays audio will display a speaker icon to the right of the URL bar. Click this icon to mute the site (the sound waves on the icon disappear) and click again to unmute.

If Firefox is your preferred browser, you’ll see a pop-up dialog box to the left of the URL bar the first time a site needs webcam or microphone access. You can click Allow either Blockand check the Remember this decision check box if you don’t want to have to make this decision every time.

You can also allow or block these permissions at any time by doing the following:

• Click the icon that displays two sliders just to the left of the URL bar. (Note: This permissions button only appears in the URL bar after a permit has been requested, so if you don’t see it, that’s why).
• A list of granted and blocked permissions appears: click any of the entries to reset the permission (so you’ll be prompted again the next time you need access).

You can also control settings for camera and microphone access on all sites at once.

• Open the Firefox menu (three horizontal lines, top right), then choose Settings.
• Low Privacy & Securityscroll down to permissions.
• Click Camera either Microphone to see which websites have requested these permissions and change the settings of these sites to Allow either Block.
• Both the camera and microphone pages have a checkbox at the bottom called Block new requests. This prevents sites from requesting the permissions they need.

To mute a site in Firefox, you must play audio; You can then click the speaker icon that appears in the tab header when you hover over it to mute the sound. Click the icon again to unmute.