Imagine you're on a video call with your coworkers and you're trying to mute your microphone. You turn the mic off and start talking to someone in the background. But what happens next has you embarrassed. The mic was actually on, and everyone on the call heard the entire conversation.

This accidental hot mic moment is the worst mistake a user could make. The UX design of a mic button should prevent these accidents. However, most mic buttons fail to do so because they have confusing and unintuitive on and off states.

Popular video calling apps, such as Google, Discord, and Zoom, all follow a common bad practice: highlighting the mic button when it's off, but not when it's on. In other words, even the top tech companies are getting this wrong.