Getting started with the Zoom for Chrome OS app

Note: Due to support for ChromeOS apps are being phased out across all operating systems by November 5, 2022, Zoom has released the Zoom for Chrome PWA (Progressive Web App), which is intended to replace the ChromeOS Zoom app. We strongly recommend admins begin migrating users from the ChromeOS app to the new Zoom for Chrome PWA to ensure a smooth transition. 

Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing and simple online meetings into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and wireless screen-sharing experience across multiple platforms. Follow this article to learn about the basic features of the Zoom app on Chrome OS.

While the Chrome OS app allows you to start or join a meeting, invite contacts to meet with you, manage participants, and more, the Chrome OS app does not offer all features available on the Zoom desktop client, mobile app, or web client. 

This article covers:

• Sign in and join
• Start a meeting
• Join a meeting
• Contacts
• In meeting controls
• Settings
• More resources

Prerequisites for using the Zoom for ChromeOS app

• Zoom app from the Chrome web store

Sign in and join

After launching Zoom, click Join a Meeting to join a meeting without signing in. If you want to sign in and start or schedule your own meeting, click Sign In.

To sign in, use your Zoom, Google, or Facebook account. You can also log in using SSO. If you have a Zoom account but cannot remember your password, reset your password.

Start a meeting

After signing in, you will see the Start a meeting tab, where you can click these options:

• Start with video: Start an instant meeting with video enabled.
• Start without video: Start an instant meeting with video disabled.
• (Optional) Check Use My Personal Meeting ID (PMI) to start your instant meeting with your personal meeting ID. 

Join a meeting

Click the Join a meeting tab to join a meeting in progress. Enter the meeting ID or personal link name and click Join. You may also be prompted for a meeting passcode, so keep the meeting invite information available.

You can also check the following boxes before joining:

• Don't connect to audio: If you choose not to connect to computer audio automatically, you will be prompted to connect to audio once you join the meeting. 
• Turn off my video: You will join the specified meeting with your video off, but will be able to start your video after you join the meeting.

Contacts

Click the Contacts tab to view and manage your contacts. You will see a directory of all your contacts. You can also search for contacts. After selecting a contact, you can see their status, some information about this contact, and start an instant meeting with them. 

Settings

Click the gear icon  to access your settings. 

• Video tab
  • Enable mirror effect: Horizontally flip your video. This option is useful if your camera flips your video by default.
  • Always show video preview dialog when joining a video meeting: Show a preview of your video each time you join a meeting. 
  • Hide non-video participants: Hide participants' thumbnail if they don't have video enabled. Thumbnails for non-video participants display their name and their profile picture, if they have one.
• Audio tab
  • Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting: Automatically join meetings with computer audio, instead of displaying a prompt to join.
  • Always mute microphone when joining a meeting
  • Automatically adjust microphone volume: Automatically make your microphone softer or louder as needed to normalize the volume and make it easier for other participants to hear you. If you are having issues with your audio fading in and out, you may want to turn this setting off.
• Accessibility tab
  • Always show meeting controls: Check to ensure the meeting controls are always visible during any meeting. Otherwise, the meeting controls will be hidden after a few seconds of inactivity. 
  • Keyboard shortcuts are also detailed here. 
• Statistics: View network statistics for audio, video, and screen sharing while in a meeting.
• About Zoom: View the current version, Zoom company info, and a link to info about what Open Source software is used within Zoom

In-meeting controls

Once you have started or joined a meeting, you can access the meeting controls located at the bottom of the meeting window (move your mouse in the Zoom window to display meeting controls).

Learn more about meeting controls for hosts, co-hosts, and attendees. You can also join a test meeting to familiarize yourself with meeting controls before joining a scheduled meeting.

More resources 

• Join our weekly Zoom meetings and webinar training
• Join a test meeting