When the coronavirus pandemic hit the world in the first half of 2020, Zoom became unexpectedly popular due to a sudden increase in the number of people working from home. There is also a Business tariff available price at $19.99 per host per month, increases the maximum number of participants to 300, and adds a number of other business-centric features.
Everything is secured with SSL and AES 256 bit encryption, but there is some controversy about the fact that Zoom does not offer end-to-end encryption.įor businesses and groups that have slightly greater needs, a Pro account is available priced at $14.99 per month per host, and this increases the limit on meeting length to 24 hours, add more control options, offers Skype interoperability and includes cloud storage for meeting recordings. It is also possible to record meetings so you can refer back to them at a later time.
While there is no limit on the number of meetings you can host with a free account, you are limited to meetings of up to 40 minutes – although there's nothing to stop you from immediately restarting a meeting once this time limit is reached.įree users can enjoy video conferencing, whiteboarding and screen sharing, and there is the option of creating breakout rooms for private chats. Something that immediately stands Zoom in very good stead is the fact that even with a free account there is support for up to 100 participants in a video chat. With the initial privacy-related issues solved, there is no good reason not to use this app.When the need arises to conduct remote meetings and video conferences, you really need to consider how many people are going to be involved before choosing which service you're going to use.
If you need a video conferencing service, either for personal or professional use, it has the features you need. In the end, Zoom really is a great choice for pretty much anyone. Great for both individual users and companiesĪs a free user, you get access to all of the platform's key features, the only limitations being that you can host up to 100 participants and group meetings are limited to a maximum of 40 minutes one-on-one calls are not affected.Ĭompanies can take advantage of more advanced features, as well as the ability to host up to a whopping 1000 participants. The app also bundles screen sharing and collaboration tools, the ability to record content and create transcripts, as well as fun features like polls, hand raising, media sharing, reactions, and more. It supports up to 100 participants in the free version (1000 for paid users), and the video quality/stability is just as good or better than its competitors. Stability and features for daysĪnother explanation for Zoom's popularity lies in the sheer amount of features included. For your ears' content, the app also integrates a noise suppression feature, though it's not quite as effective as some dedicated third-party solutions. Zoom checks your video and audio devices when joining a meeting automatically, something a lot of novices struggle with. Once you have it on your Mac, you can create, join, and schedule meetings from your desktop, though you will still need to confirm the latter action from your browser.
If you receive a meeting invitation and don't have the app installed, you will be prompted to download and install it.
Zoom is dead simple to set up, and most users want something that "just works." Get started in minutes
At the start of the pandemic, people who had never used video conferencing software found themselves with no way to avoid it. This was the main motivation for developing a new service in the first place.įor those of you wondering why Zoom became as popular as it is now, look no further than its stability and intuitive design. Setting up a connection was difficult in and of itself, and the video feed would often be choppy and cut off for no apparent reason. In the old days, video calls could be an absolute nightmare.
A more stable video conferencing platform Most of these issues have been dealt with, and the service in its current form absolutely deserves its popularity. It's safe to say that Zoom Meetings has been a resounding success, despite some initial controversies regarding lackluster encryption and alleged disregard for user privacy. The idea was to make video conferencing more stable and intuitive, something existing platforms like Skype were struggling with. Zoom seemed to come out of nowhere at the start of the pandemic, but the company had been working on their conferencing platform for a long time, launching the first version of the software all the way back in 2013.