Microsoft Teams has a rather simple meeting interface, with all the controls laid out neatly on the meeting toolbar at the top. It’s no wonder it’s such a popular choice for meetings, whether they’re for work or school.

But lately, Microsoft Teams has also been adding more and more security and control options to the app. And while they don’t mess with the interface or anything, they can make things a little more complicated for some folks.

Like the simple unmute function. Unmuting yourself is pretty straightforward in Microsoft Teams, most of the time, at least. Let’s see what all the hassle is about.

Unmuting Yourself from the Desktop App

Go to the meeting toolbar at the top of the meeting screen, and click the ‘Unmute’ button (microphone with a diagonal line across it).

When you’re not on mute, the microphone won’t have a line across it. You can also use the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl + Shift + M’ to quickly unmute yourself in a meeting.

But Microsoft Teams has a new feature to prevent echo when there is more than one device in the same room during a meeting. You can also turn off your device audio.

Now, if your device audio is off, a ‘speaker’ icon will appear on the toolbar instead of the microphone. At first sight, it can be confusing as we are accustomed to the good ol’ microphone icon. But all you have to do is simply click it to unmute. You cannot unmute while your device audio is off, so the option is packed into one icon.

A message will appear asking whether you want to turn on the device audio. Click ‘Turn audio on’. Both your device audio and microphone will turn on.

Note: Only you can unmute yourself in a Teams meeting. Other people, such as meeting hosts and presenters, can mute you, but they do have the power to unmute you.

Unmuting Yourself from the Mobile App

If you’re attending the meeting from the Teams mobile app, go to the meeting toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Then, tap the ‘Unmute’ button. Most of the time, this should do it.

But the mobile app has the option to turn off your audio right there on the toolbar.

So, if you also had your audio off while you were on mute, a pop-up asking ‘Turn audio in’ will appear. Tap ‘Yes’ as you cannot unmute while your device audio is off.

Why Can’t I Unmute in Microsoft Teams?

Where unmuting yourself is a rather direct feat in Microsoft Teams, sometimes users find themselves unable to do so. They rather get the message “Your mic is disabled.”

If you find it to be the case, know that it isn’t an error with your microphone. Microsoft Teams has added the facility to disable the mic for attendees. So, if your meeting role is that of an attendee and you get this message, then one of the meeting presenters or the host has disabled your mic. You’d get a notification when someone changes your role to an attendee from a presenter in the meeting.

You can only unmute yourselves after they allow the mic for you. Once someone allows the mic for you again, you’d be automatically on mute, and you’d get a notification saying, “You can now unmute mic.”

It doesn’t matter whether you were on mute or not before your mic was disabled. It’s really for your privacy, so you’re not caught off-guard – just like the feature where no one else can unmute you in a meeting.

Muting yourself in a meeting is the basic etiquette, so you don’t disturb the presenter. And with this guide, you can mute yourself without any hesitation since you’ll be able to unmute in a jiffy whenever the need arises.