Zoom's forced app is irresponsible

7 thoughts on “Zoom's forced app is irresponsible”

1. 2020-03-17 12:49

   

   Daniel Appelquist said on mastodon.social:

   @Edent great tip on the link format for joining a call from the browser. Thanks!

   Reply | Reply to original comment on mastodon.social
2. 2020-03-17 14:19

   

   Ingvar Stepanyan said on twitter.com:

   Woot, I didn’t even realise they have a Web version until now 😠

   Reply | Reply to original comment on twitter.com
3. 2020-03-17 16:35

   

   Lee says:

   While you say Zoom works cross-browser – it doesn’t actually work well in anything except Chrome and Edge. Current macOS production releases of Safari and Firefox will support video, but not audio (except in webinars).

   https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/214629443-Zoom-Web-Client

   Reply
4. 2020-03-19 15:07

   

   Andy Mabbett says:

   Zoom also have info on joining a meeting in your browser, here:

   https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting

   [caveat; I have never had cause to follow the advice on that page, so cannot vouch for it]

   Reply
5. 2020-04-01 22:28

   

   Jamie Tanna | www.jvt.me said on twitter.com:

   Hey @edent github.com/arkadiyt/zoom-… may be of interest to you in relation to shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/03/z… (if you've not already seen it) as a way to auto-redirect to the browser client, not the native client (jvt.me/mf2/2020/04/pl…)

   Reply | Reply to original comment on twitter.com
6. 2020-04-02 15:14

   

   Doug says:

   As a note on this - people need to enable this setting via https://zoom.us/profile/setting at the bottom of "In Meeting (Advanced)" there is a setting for Show a "Join from your browser" link - that link to open in browser will only show if that is toggled on.

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1. 2022-10-20 16:17

   TechCrunch:

   Work in the time of COVID-19, a disease caused by the coronavirus, is driving huge growth in videoconferencing as scores of office workers go remote and log on to meetings from home.Zoom, which offers a range of slick features like auto-transcription and virtual backgrounds, has been a key beneficiary of this viral boom.Back in February, research analysts Bernstein estimated the company had pulled in more active users in two months of 2020 than in the whole of 2019, citing data from Apptopia, which builds models fed by an SDK that tracks downloads across a large network of third party apps. It research suggests Zoom had added 2.22 million monthly active users by the end of February vs onboarding 1.99 million in the whole of 2019.In total, they estimated Zoom had 12.92M MAUs, up 21% since the end of 2019.Thing is, you don’t actually have to download Zoom’s app to use the videoconferencing tool; it can work in a browser.The option for joining a Zoom meeting in a browser is just really well hidden unless the meeting host has tweaked default settings.Like literally hidden until after you’ve clicked to join a meeting — when the option to join via a browser appears in tiny text underneath a more prominent link to “download & run Zoom”.Either it’s really terrible UX or a dark pattern intended to drive app downloads.Hiding the option to join a Zoom call in a browser is suboptimal to say the least, given many home workers will be using corporate laptops that lock down app downloads to shrink security risks. (And COVID-19 has plenty of cyber risk attached to it.)It’s also simply disproportionate to require downloading an app to join a call. Zoom should be shouting about the added benefits of using its app — which does support more features — rather than trying to trick users into thinking they have no choice but to download it if they want to make a meeting.Zoom’s approach looks irresponsible, per some critics, as it can result in frustrated participants choosing to dial in to a meeting instead — thereby missing out on the ability to see multimedia content such as slides. And when the world is dealing with a global health crisis, that’s really not great.Circumventing Zoom’s dark pattern means keeping your eyes peeled for a tiny text link to “join from your browser” and clicking the hell out of it.Those who are hosting Zoom meetings can improve a disingenuous situation by diving into settings and toggling them so that the “join from your browser” link is automatically displayed — instead of requiring participants attempt to download Zoom first before it will appear.To make this change you need to go to your Zoom account settings, navigate to the “Meeting” tab, then “In Meeting (Advanced)” you should find a toggle to “Show a ‘join from your browser’ link.”“Verify that the setting is enabled. If the setting is disabled, click the Status toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On to verify the change,” is how Zoom explains the process in a help text on its website.But there’s more! Doing all that does not actually lock the change in place for all users.To the right hand side of the toggle is a tiny, faint grey padlock — squint and you’ll miss it — which you have to click on if you want to make this setting mandatory for all users, and then click “Lock” to confirm the change.So two more clicks.It’s also possible to show the browser link for all meetings hosted by members of a specific group, which can be done via “Group Management,” and then clicking on the name of the group, followed by the “Settings” tab (then repeating the above steps).And for your own Zoom meetings: sign into your account, clickon the “My Meetings Settings” (if you’re an admin) or “My Meetings” (if not), then navigating to the “Show a ‘Join from your browser link’” option on the “Meeting” tab under “In Meeting (Advanced)” as before.Should the option to show a browser link appear entirely greyed out it’s been locked at the account or group level, per Zoom’s help doc. At that point, you’ll either need to change it at the account level first or contact your administrator to request the change.If you’re able to find it, Zoom’s website has a page of information about its web client where it recommends using Google Chrome to get maximum functionality.But you can also join from Firefox, Safari, Edge or Internet Explorer. Who needs an app? source