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The video chat platform is making it easier to use apps like Dropbox and Slack and find virtual events like concerts. Here are all the details.
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Zoom on Wednesday unveiled OnZoom, a platform for posting and finding quarantine-friendly virtual events ranging from concerts to cooking and fitness classes. The video chat platform also revealed "Zapps," or Zoom apps -- that live within Zoom and let you access them directly from video chats, for easier workplace collaboration. Finally, Zoom said it would begin rolling out end-to-end encryption for free and paid users next week.
Here's everything you need to know about the two new Zoom features. For more, check out how to become a Zoom pro, and how to change your background in Zoom.
Read more: Ultimate webcam tips: How to look and sound great online
Quarantine-friendly virtual events
OnZoom is a marketplace where people can host, search for and attend events. Hosts can securely monetize their events by selling tickets or asking for donations through PayPal. Hosts can also control security settings to try and prevent Zoombombing, when uninvited guests disrupt meetings. Each event will be capped at 1,000 participants (depending on your Zoom membership), but there is a livestream option to reach more people. Hosts can also share your event through email and social media.
For attendees, OnZoom is somewhat similar to Facebook Events -- you can search through public events like concerts, fitness classes and other lessons. Securely purchase tickets through PayPal or credit card, gift tickets to others and favorite, share and rate events.
OnZoom is currently available in the US as a public beta. It will expand worldwide in 2021. You can join events with a free Zoom account, but must have a paid account to host an event.
Built-in apps for work
Zapps aim to make it easier for people to work together within Zoom. Currently in beta, there will be 35 zapps available at launch by the end of the year, including Dropbox, Slack, Asana, Box, Miro, Woven, Smartsheet and Salesforce. You'll be able to open the app directly within a Zoom call, and it will appear in a panel to the right of your video. Or, you can pull it out into its own window. Using the Dropbox zapp, for example, you can co-create an agenda, share files, take notes and capture follow up tasks, all without leaving Zoom.
Once live, you'll be able to click on the Zapps button at the bottom of your Zoom screen to open the Zapps store, either within your meeting or through your main Zoom page.
Zapps will be available worldwide by the end of the year, on both free and paid Zoom accounts. There will be additional features for enterprise Zoom accounts in terms of IT management apps and compliance.
Zoom saw massive growth at the start of coronavirus lockdowns back in March, as much of the world turned to connecting over video chat for work, socializing and entertainment. The service hit 300 million daily meeting participants by April, outpacing other giants in the space including Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Though it experienced a number of security issues, it has since made several changes, including full encryption for all users. It'll also soon be available on your Amazon Echo Show devices, Google Nest smart displays and the Facebook Portal, if it isn't already.
