When using the chat functionality in Zoom, you’re pretty much always communicating primarily through text. Occasionally you may send an image or document when it’s necessary. Zoom offers one other function in the chat window by default, however, that is the ability to record and send an audio message up to one minute in length.
While audio is a perfectly valid method of communication and can be more suitable than text for providing more complex information, these scenarios generally warrant a live call rather than an audio message. For scenarios where a call isn’t convenient, then it’s likely that an audio message also isn’t convenient for the same reason. Live calls also offer the person you’re talking to the opportunity to easily ask questions or ask for clarification if it’s needed.
The concept of the audio message is essentially identical to leaving a voicemail on someone’s phone, which has fallen out of favour in the modern world where texting or calling is easier and better. Voicemails are so disliked that many people will hang up rather than leave a voicemail, and just send a text asking the other person to call them back. Simply put, the audio message function has a very limited use case and can be actively annoying to the recipient of the message.
Thankfully, Zoom allows you to remove the button from your chat window entirely. To do so, you need to go into Zoom’s settings. To access the settings, click on your user icon in the top-right corner, then click on “Settings”.
Once you’re in the settings, switch to the “Chat” tab, then untick the “Show Audio Message button” checkbox at the top of the page. Once you’ve disabled the setting, the “Audio message” icon will disappear from the chat section of the Zoom app.
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