At the time of publishing, nearly everyone in the whole world is stuck inside because of the global pandemic. Social distancing rules and stay-at-home orders are forcing us to find new ways to connect with people.
Zoom is one of the most popular ways to meet, both for business and for pleasure, when we can’t gather in person. Zoom works both on desktop and mobile, and it’s really easy to get started. Here’s how:
Zoom Mobile Walkthrough
The first step is simple. Download the zoom app from your preferred app marketplace. For most of us, that will mean a download from Google Play or from the App store. Zoom has apps for both mobile devices and tablets.
Sign Up
Once you’ve downloaded the Zoom app, open it up. If someone else is hosting, you can simply use the meeting information you received without signing in or even creating an account. It’s nice if you don’t want to give away any personal information.
If you want to host a meeting, you have to have an account. Enter your email address and full name, and then sign up. Zoom will send you a confirmation email which you will have to use to activate the account.
Once you have activated your account, Zoom will ask you to create a password. Choose a strong password, and then tap continue. Next, the app will ask you to invite colleagues.
Unless you’re using Zoom as specifically mandated for a work project, I’d skip this step. I hate getting spam invites to services from my friends. Ugh.
The last piece: Run a test meeting. If you hadn’t signed in to the app yet, Zoom will redirect you to sign in. Then the app will ask for permission to send you notifications, use your microphone, and others. Select the ones that you want and deny those you don’t.
How To Start A Zoom Meeting
It’s simple to start a meeting. Open you zoom app, and there will be an orange button labeled, “New Meeting.” Easy right?
Tap the button, and the next screen will give you button to start the meeting. There are two options, one to turn video on or off, and one to use your Personal Meeting ID (PMI). Your PMI is a way to start an instant meeting with you, they can use this number to get it started.
Tap the “Start a Meeting” button, and it will take you to the next screen. To invite people to your meeting, tap the participants menu on the lower right hand corner of your screen. It will pull up all the participants, just you at this time, and it has a button to invite people to your new meeting.
Send an invitation to the people you want to join you. You can also use this screen to do a text chat with participants once they join.
How To Schedule A Zoom Meeting
Scheduling a meeting is just as easy as starting one. Tap the “schedule” button, and Zoom will send you to the next screen. Once there, you add a title, date, duration, and further scheduling infor. There are also options to require a password and turn video/audio options off or on for participants.
If you tap on “advanced options” you’ll see toggles for two more features. “Allow Join Before Host” lets participants join the meeting before you do. The other sets whether the meeting records automatically or not.
Once you tap “done” Zoom will pull up a new screen with all the scheduling information for your calendar. Scroll through it all until you get to the important info on the bottom. You’ll see the meeting link and passwords. You can share that information with anyone who wants to join the meeting, even without sending them an invitation through the app.
How To Join A Zoom Meeting
If you have the link to a Zoom meeting, it’s relatively simple to join. Just tap on the link, and your mobile device will open the app and send you to the meeting. If you don’t have the link, you can join by using the meeting ID.
Go to the opening screen on the app, and tap the “Join” button. Enter the meeting ID, and glance over the “Join Options” to see if you want to select either “Don’t Connect To Audio” or “Turn Off My Video.” Tap “Join,” and you’re ready to go.
How To Manage A Zoom Meeting
When you’re in the meeting as the host, you have a few options to manage it. You can manage what the participants can do through the participants button. There, you can chat, invite people, mute all, and unmute all. You can also individually mute or kick people from the meeting.
You can also present documents from your mobile device. Tap on “Share Content” on the bottom center of the screen. You’ll see options to share from things like your screen, photos, a cloud drive, or a website. Make sure you’ve tested the content you want to share before you start the meeting. Nothing looks so silly as trying to figure out the tech while everyone waits.
If you tap on the “More” button, it can bring up a menu called “Meeting Settings.” This controls even more aspects of the meeting.
From there, you can manage all sorts of host controls such as:
- Lock meeting: Bar new participants from joining the meeting
- Mute on entry: New participants enter with a muted microphone
- Play Chime for enter/exit: A chime sounds when a participant joins the meeting or leaves the meeting.
- Waiting Room: Participants connect to the meeting, but they have to tap “join” again to enter the room.
- Chat controls: Who can chat with whom
- Sharing controls: Who can share with the group
These controls are very important to have, especially as groups get larger. If you have 50 people joining at the same time, all with their microphones on, it would get really annoying!
How To Handle Zoom Meeting Security
A number of articles suggest that Zoom has some security problems. People have experienced something called, Zoom Bombing. When someone Zoom bombs, they take over the meeting and put up inappropriate or offensive content. Zoom bombing is easy to prevent. The meeting host simply has to prevent people from sharing their screens and controlling microphones.
Other reporters have identified security risks in recorded video storage. Users can record videos in the cloud. Some videos have private content, including medical information or adult material. There is a simple fix for this, too. Don’t store your videos on a cloud drive available to the public.
If your Zoom video has personal, sensitive content, don’t store it on the cloud at all. If you’re a doctor or a therapist, you shouldn’t even be using a product like Zoom. There are other products that are designed for the medical field that can keep your information private to HIPPA standards.
Zoom Mobile Meeting Walkthrough
Zoom is handy mobile app, but, like any mobile app, it takes some work to understand. If you follow our Zoom walkthrough, you should get the basics of using this mobile meeting service. With some practice, you’ll be a master Zoom manager, able to set up and manage your meetings like a pro.