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Zoom Makes Significant Changes a Year into Pandemic

By Laura Tucker
Zoom Makes Changes Featured

The necessity to social distance during the pandemic made Zoom a must-have service for many. It’s been used in this past year to keep up with friends and family, to check in with work, and to attend remote classes. Being used differently than it had in the past has necessitated changes. This week Zoom made significant changes to the service.

Zoom Makes Changes Across All Platforms

The changes Zoom made on Monday were across all platforms, other than Chrome OS. A few issues will be resolved later in the week for Chrome. Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android users saw the changes immediately, while iOS users will have to wait for Apple to approve them.

General Features

After getting called out for not having end-to-end encryption when it said it did, the recent Zoom changes include security and privacy improvements.

Zoom Makes Changes Meeting

When you’re hit with an Untrusted Server Certificate alert, you’ll now get additional information detailing why it’s untrusted. You’ll be able to view the certificates as well. There will also be “enhanced data privacy notices” that will show you who will be able to see, save, and share your information before you display it.

Meeting/Webinar Features

One of the most significant changes is the Vanishing Pen, a new annotation tool for desktop versions of the service. This will allow the user to annotate, yet the markup will disappear just a few seconds later. This will lead to a much cleaner display.

Mobile users aren’t being left out, though. Whiteboard annotation will get the addition of auto-shapes, such as straight lines, ovals, and rectangles. All users will get an enhanced use of emojis. The emojis used for chat will now be available for meetings.

Chat Features

Zoom Makes Changes Office

If you’ve been cut off, you will no longer be searchable. Only if there is existing chat history that involved you will you be searchable after you’ve been deactivated. “Profile information and available interaction options will be reduced in line with their status,” explains the list of changes to Zoom.

Additionally, if a manager is added to your Profile, it will be available on both desktop and mobile. Only the users that are in the same account will be able to view the manager.

Phone Features

Across all platforms, users can restore “soft-deleted history, voicemail, or recording within 30 days” if the admin enables it. This data will be permanently removed after 30 days.

Zoom Makes Changes Call

Also, if you’re using a supported USB peripheral, you can use the “hang-up button” to end the call or decline a call on desktop versions of Zoom. Android users will be able to tap a phone number on a web page or in an email to connect.

What Changes Will Zoom Make Next?

These are changes that are reflecting how Zoom is being used now. What happens with the pandemic and plans to keep people socially distanced will determine later changes, But many people have made it clear they prefer to work at home and don’t want to go back to the office, if they are offered a choice.

Education probably isn’t ready to adapt to remote learning as much, but an argument can be made for some type of a hybrid of remote and traditional home-schooling.

Read on to learn about Zoom reportedly developing email and calendar services.

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Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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