How to Fix Zoom and Other Video Conference Apps on Your iPhone
1. Allow Access to Your Camera and Microphone
Apple encourages you to take more control over your privacy by letting you choose which apps can and can’t access the camera or microphone on your iPhone. Zoom, Skype, and other video conferencing apps usually ask for this permission in a popup when you first start using them.
If you chose Don’t Allow when your video conferencing app asked for permission, your microphone or camera won’t work until you change your settings.
Go to Settings > Privacy > Microphone and enable the slider next to your video conference app. Then go to Settings > Privacy > Camera to allow camera access for that app as well.
2. Make Sure the Servers Are Functional
It’s possible that Skype, Zoom, or other video conferencing apps aren’t working due to a problem with the services’ servers. You can usually check the status of these online.
If you discover any service problems with your video conferencing app, you need to wait for the developers to fix it. Keep checking back on the status website to find out when that happens.
3. Restart the Video Conference App
When an app freezes or crashes, the only way to fix it is to close it down, then open it again. Even if Skype, Zoom, or other conferencing apps seem as though they’re still working, try restarting them in case something stopped running behind the scenes.
On a modern iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone screen and hold for a moment to view all your open apps. If you have an iPhone with a Home button, double-click it to view your open apps instead.
Slide each app off the top of the screen to close it down, then go back to your Home screen and launch the app again.
4. Restart Your iPhone
If restarting your video conference app doesn’t help, the next step is to restart your iPhone. This is an effective troubleshooting step for a wide range of software issues, including many that can affect Skype, Zoom, and other popular video conferencing apps.
Press and hold the Side button with either Volume button (or just hold the Side button if your iPhone has a Home button). Then slide to power off when your iPhone prompts you to do so. Wait 30 seconds for your iPhone to power down, then hold the Side button again to restart it.
5. Test Your Internet Connection
Every video conference app depends on an internet connection of some kind to work, whether that’s over Wi-Fi or cellular data. Take a moment to make sure your connection is up and running. The easiest way to do this is by loading a new website or streaming a video on YouTube.If you want to use Skype, Zoom, or other video conference apps over cellular data, make sure you allow it in your iPhone’s Settings. Go to Settings > Cellular and scroll down to find your video conference app, then turn on the toggle to allow cellular data for that app.
6. Update Zoom or Skype in the App Store
Your video conference app might not work on your iPhone if you aren’t using the latest version. App developers frequently release new updates to patch bugs or introduce new features. Make sure you’ve installed all the latest updates from the App Store.
Open the App Store and tap the Profile icon in the top-right corner of the Today tab. Scroll down to view any apps you need to update. Update your specific video conference app if it’s listed, or tap Update All to update all your apps at once.
7. Update to the Latest Version of iOS
Apple releases new iOS updates all the time to fix problems and introduce new features. Even if you’re using the latest app updates, you still might encounter problems if the operating system on your iPhone is out of date.
Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for new updates available for your iPhone. If any are available, make sure your download and install them before trying to use Zoom, Skype, or other video conferencing apps again.
