Start or join a 100-person meeting with crystal-clear, face-to-face video, high quality screen sharing, and instant messaging - for free. Zoom brings video conferencing, online meetings and group messaging into one easy-to-use application.

It's super easy: install the free Zoom app, click on "Host a Meeting" and invite up to 100 people to join.

Zoom offers video, audio and screen-sharing experience across Windows PC, macOS, iOS, Android and H.323/SIP room systems.

What is the difference between paid and free Zoom?

Zoom free license gives you unlimited time for individual meetings, but group meetings are limited to 40 minutes with up to 100 video participants. A free license also allows for screen sharing. Zoom Pro (paid) gets you unlimited group meetings, a personalized meeting ID, and access to add-ons like Zoom Webinars, Zoom Rooms, Cloud Room Connector, etc.

What happens if I go over 40 minutes on Zoom?

After 40 minutes, the meeting will end, in this case users can restart the meeting after waiting 1 minute by clicking the same meeting link or starting a new meeting.

Do I need an account to attend a Zoom meeting?

No, you do not need an account to attend a Zoom meeting. However, if you want to host a meeting, you must first sign up for an account.

Is Zoom secure?

By default, free and paid Zoom accounts use 256-bit AES encryption to share audio, video, and application sharing. Right now, Zoom also offers End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) as a technical preview, though enabling this setting also disables some features.

Can I record a meeting with Zoom?

Yes, you can record meetings on your local device with a free license. Pro accounts add 1GB storage for cloud recording.

What are the best Zoom alternatives?

There are several Zoom alternatives, some of them include free plans to host meetings like Google Meet, Cisco Webex, Skype, and MS Teams.

Features

Android

  • Screen share directly from your Android device
  • Screen share photos, web and Google Drive, Dropbox or Box files
  • Send group text, images and audio from mobile and desktop
  • Contact availability status
  • Easily invite phone, email or company contacts
  • Join as interactive participant or view-only webinar attendee
  • Works over WiFi, 4G/LTE and 3G networks
  • Safe driving mode while on the road
  • Connect with anyone on Android, other mobile devices, Windows, Mac, iOS, ZoomPresence, H.323/SIP room systems, and telephones

Chrome

The Zoom Chrome Extension allows participants to schedule Zoom cloud meetings directly from Google Calendar. With the click of a button, you can start an instant meeting or schedule a future meeting. The meeting URL and information is sent via a Google Calendar invitation so the attendee can join with a single-click. Zoom Chrome Extension allows you to:

  • Start an instant meeting
  • Schedule a meeting
  • Schedule a meeting for other

Focus Mode

In focus mode, only the host can see participants' videos and profile pictures. You can start Focus Mode from the "More" menu on the toolbar of the desktop client. This setting is available at the account-, group-, and user-level settings pages. This requires the desktop client for Windows or macOS version 5.7.3 or higher.

What's New

  • Minor bug fixes
  • Security enhancements
  • Resolved an issue with external transfers failing after service failover.

General features

  • WiFi signal strength tracking - Windows, macOS. Desktop client users can view their current WiFi connection statistics, such as RSSI level, noise, and more, through the Statistics tab in client settings. This data is also available to account admins viewing a meeting participant's network statistics in the Zoom Dashboard, allowing them to view connectivity issues and trends over the duration of the meeting.

Meeting/webinar features

  • AV1 video codec - Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS. To provide higher quality video without also increasing bandwidth usage, Zoom is rolling out a new video codec to free accounts. Use of codecs, including AV1, is adaptive, meaning that Zoom will choose the most appropriate codec for each user's environment.

Meeting features

  • Disable remote control for external users - Windows, macOS, Linux. Account admins can restrict the ability of guest participants to remote control another participant's screen during share. This allows internal participants to continue to use remote control as needed, while external unauthenticated participants are blocked from requesting or being given remote control of shared screens. Previously, remote control could only be controlled for all meeting participants.
  • Hide meeting window option for in-meeting chat screenshot - Windows, macOS. Participants using in-meeting chat can choose to hide the Zoom meeting window when capturing a screenshot. This can be especially useful for single-screen users, as the Zoom window is immediately hidden when starting a capture, and returns when the screen shot is selected or the process is canceled.
  • Meeting Summary: Next Steps and Segment Titles - Windows, macOS. The Meeting Summary feature, which uses AI to analyze and summarize in-meeting discussions, is enhanced to also include a list of next steps mentioned in the meeting and titles for each segment of the meeting . These next steps and segment titles are included in the email and Team Chat summary shared with the host and participants (if allowed).
  • Unified meeting scheduler - Windows, macOS. The main meeting scheduler on the Home tab of the Zoom desktop client is changing to align with the event scheduler used by Zoom Calendar, simplifying scheduling with Zoom for whichever method you choose. This change is rolling out to accounts over the coming weeks.

Mail and Calendar features

  • Translation enhancement added to right-click menu actions - Windows, macOS. Right-clicking text that is in an email displays a menu, providing options to copy or translate the text.
  • Import Office 365 emails to Zoom Mail - Windows, macOS. Users can import their emails from Office 365 to their Zoom Mail account.
  • Private label for delegators - Windows, macOS. Delegators can move emails or filter emails into a private label in the inbox. Delegates cannot see or access emails that are in the private label.
  • Exit a delegated inbox - Windows, macOS. Delegates can permanently leave an inbox they are delegated. The delegator will be notified if a delegate chooses to leave their inbox.
  • Optional attendees - Windows, macOS. When scheduling an event, users can mark attendees Optional so that these attendees know they are not required to join.Once the meeting is created, optional attendees will receive invitation emails that indicate they are not required to join the meeting.
  • Support for Whiteboard integration with Zoom Calendar - Windows, macOS. When users create a Zoom Calendar invite, they can add a new or existing whiteboard directly in their invite. When users attach a whiteboard to an invite, it becomes a simplified link in the email invite.
  • Suggested times when scheduling an event - Windows, macOS. The suggested time automatically recommends available time slots based on all attendees' availability. Previously, when scheduling an event/meeting, the host manually looked at each attendee's availability to find a mutually available time.
  • Show secondary time zone - Windows, macOS. Users can see two time zones side by side when they collaborate with a colleague from a different time zone. Users can also enable or disable the second time zone when they schedule meetings with colleagues in the same time zone. Additionally, users can also customize the name of each time zone.

Resolved Issues

  • Minor bug fixes
  • Security enhancements
  • Resolved an issue for a subset of users regarding the possibility of calls unexpectedly merging - Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
  • Resolved an issue regarding the 4294967295 error code encountered when scheduling meetings - Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
  • Resolved an issue when editing a message in Team Chat where the Up and Down keys behaved unexpectedly - Windows
  • Resolved an issue regarding inconsistent behavior with the AlwaysShowMeetingControl policy - Windows
  • Resolved an issue regarding the default app for SIP click-to-dial links switching unexpectedly to Zoom - Windows
  • Resolved an issue regarding ringtones set for Contact Center calls not being persistent - Windows
  • Resolved an issue regarding client settings being lost after an OS update - macOS
  • Resolved an issue with an incorrect timezone - Linux
  • Resolved an issue with shared contact lists not appearing - Android
  • Resolved an issue regarding the start of a poll and breakout rooms not notifying users with in-meeting chat open - Android
  • Resolved an issue regarding contacts not appearing properly in search results - Android
  • Resolved an issue regarding notifications being inconsistently blocked with Intune policies - Android
  • Resolved an issue with Zoom Phone calls still ringing when device is in silent mode - iOS
  • Resolved an issue for a subset of users regarding authentication to a GCCH tennant when EnforceLoginWithMicrosoft is enabled - iOS