You’re muted – or are you? Videoconferencing apps may listen when mic is off
I have a older logitech "speakerphone" microphone that I normally use for video calls and the like as people have commented that it sounds better than the mic that is built into the webcam.  One of the nice things about it is that you can touch a "mute" function and the LEDs around the edge of the speaker that usually will light up for a volume dial indicator will turn "red" when it is "muted".  And I have found that it does track whether or not the session is muted or not.<p>Whether or not an application is correctly using the functionality or they try to do something sneaky like using a mute function on app to trigger a "cut audio" function on the server side of the video conference is one of the reasons why I use the speakermicrophone. That visual indicator is usually linked to the Audio Subsystem and with the speakermicrophone being a 1st tier HID device for audio purposes, makes it more likely that things are working as they should.<p>When it doesn't light up and I'm intentional on the mute is when I would worry.