How to turn off the camera in Microsoft Teams

Whenever you join an unscheduled meeting in Microsoft Teams, it automatically turns on the camera for video calls. For a scheduled meeting, or a group call or a 1: 1 call from Chat, everything is different. By default, videos are turned off during scheduled meetings and for group calls or 1: 1 from Chat.

But for ad hoc meetings, enabling video by default is an issue for many. To be honest, not all meetings are formally scheduled through Outlook. And scheduled meetings aren’t even an option if you’re on the free Microsoft Teams plan. So you’re stuck with the option to enable video by default.

So the only way to turn off the camera in meetings is to do it manually.

Turn off the camera before joining a meeting

When joining a meeting from the dashboard ChannelYou can turn off the camera before joining. Click the button Join on the dashboard Channel to join an ongoing meeting.

A screen will open asking you to select audio and video settings for the meeting. By default, the camera is turned on. Turn off the switch for the camera and then click Join now to join the meeting with the camera turned off.

Turn off the camera while participating in a meeting

You can also turn off the camera from during the meeting at any time. During an ongoing meeting, click the icon Camera on the toolbar with End call and other options to turn off the camera. When the camera is off, the icon has a diagonal line on it.

Turn off the camera when joining a meeting from someone else’s invitation

If you do not join the meeting from the control panel but someone has invited you to the meeting instead, you will receive a call. While joining a meeting from the call, you can choose Voice only to join a meeting when the camera is off.

Note: If turning off the camera manually isn’t enough, users can also try other tricks to block video feeds. Using black electrical tape or magnetic shielding to cover your computer’s camera or antivirus software also provides additional privacy protection by preventing apps from using the webcam without permission. your. This way, it should not be a problem if you forget to turn off the camera during or after joining a meeting.

Hope you are succesful.