Zoom Release Notes – February 2023

Zoom is constantly evolving to improve a user’s experience. To help keep you up-to-date, we have summarised some key new features from Zoom release notes that were released to the Zoom platform up to December 2022.

Download the latest version of the Zoom meeting desktop client to access all these features and more. 

Zoom Release Notes: Latest Product Announcements

Introducing Zoom Mesh

Zoom Mesh is a native, zero-click, zero-install, client-based Mesh (eCDN) solution for Zoom Webinars and Events. The Zoom Mesh service optimises bandwidth consumption for Webinars & Events while preserving the native Zoom attendee and host experience. Zoom Mesh is available to all accounts with a Webinar or Zoom Events add-on. Learn more about Zoom Mesh and how it works on the Zoom support site.

Updates to Zoom Client

General Features

• Out-of-office presence status for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS – Users can set their status to Out of Office, better indicating the user is away for an extended period.
• Support for Zoom Mesh for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS – The Zoom client supports the use of Zoom Mesh within a local network, reducing internet bandwidth used by attendees when connecting with Zoom servers for Zoom Webinars and Events. Zoom Mesh requires version 5.12.6 or higher.
• End-of-life support for iOS 10 and below and Android 5 and below – Users must be on at least iOS 11 or Android 6 to continue to receive Zoom app updates.

Meeting/Webinar Features

• Speaker attributions for live automated captions for Windows, macOS and Linux – When viewing automated captions in a live meeting or webinar, captions will include the speaker’s profile picture as part of captions, to make it easier to understand who is currently speaking. If the user has no profile picture, their initials will be displayed instead. Their full name is provided when viewing the full transcript. Previously, there was no speaker attribution in the displayed captions.
• Temporarily disable automated captions for Windows, macOS and Linux – Hosts can disable automated captioning during a live meeting or webinar. Participants will be notified that captions are disabled by the host and the Show Captions button is no longer available in the control toolbar for everyone except the host.

Meeting Features

• Support for Q&A in meetings for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android & iOS – Hosts can enable the Q&A feature in meetings to allow participants to ask questions, which can be viewed by all, but only answered by the host and co-host. Questions can be submitted anonymously and responses can be sent publicly for all to see or privately to just the sender. Hosts can also mark submitted questions as something that will be answered live, so participants are aware and can expect their answers to follow soon.

Team Chat Features

• Schedule meetings with chat and channel members for Windows, macOS and Linux – Users can schedule meetings with members of a chat channel directly from Team Chat. When successfully scheduled, the meeting is added to their calendars, for users in the same organisation, provides a notification with the option to copy the invitation, and also appears as a meeting card in the chat. This feature requires all chat members to have their calendars integrated with Zoom, and currently supports Google Calendar and Office 365 (OAuth 2.0).

Zoom Release Notes: Updates to Zoom Events

Changes to Existing Features

• Event lobby added to single session events – The event lobby is now available for single session events. The lobby will appear as soon as a single session event is published.
• Separation of Zoom Events chat and Meeting chat – Zoom Events chat is now independent of the Meeting chat setting and will continue to operate even if Meeting chat is disabled. Admins may specifically disable Zoom Events chat through the new Zoom Events settings tab in the Zoom web portal. Previously, when admins disabled the Meeting chat feature, Zoom Events chat would also be disabled.

New and Enhanced Features

Host Features

• Zoom Events in-session resources – Hosts now have a specific resource location to add resource links for attendees to click on within Webinar sessions. Hosts can use this in-session tool to display a notification that directs attendees’ attention to the host’s resource link. Additionally, hosts can invite speakers to edit their sessions and add their own resource links for their assigned sessions.

Event Setup Features 

• Event Branding tab general availability – By accessing the new Event Branding tab, events can be branded with high-level styling elements. Event organisers can manage the Event Branding configuration area to apply branding to a colour palette, event backgrounds, buttons, and text. They can also preview the registration page and lobby home page and apply branding on all major pages in their event. The event colours are applied to all attendee-facing pages. 

Zoom Release Notes: Updates to Zoom IQ for Sales

Administrator Features

• Additional auto-record options – Admins can configure the automatic recording settings to only record specific teams or members. When selected, all other IQ users not specified will have the auto recording turned off by default. The lock function will be valid for the entire account and enforce each team and user’s corresponding setting. Previously, when automatic recording for scheduled meetings with external participants was enabled, it was applied to the entire account.

Stay Up To Date With Zoom Release Notes

Zoom is constantly adding new and updating existing features to the platform, so keep an eye on the latest Zoom Release Notes on our insights page.

If you’d like your business to benefit from Zoom and the add-ons like Phone or Contact Centre that can save time and money, contact us for a free 15-minute consultation and find out how we can support your business. Call us on 0800 032 8274 or book a discovery call here.