My Experience with Zoom’s Auto-Call Feature: A Game-Changer for Busy Days

[iambobsat]

As someone who often jumps between multiple meetings, some scheduled, some totally ad hoc, I’ve always struggled with one thing: making sure I never miss the start of any meeting. Between managing calendar alerts, emails, and just the chaos of the day, it’s easy to lose track and join late.

That’s why I was really excited when I discovered Zoom’s Auto-Call feature.

How It Works For Me?

Once I enabled Auto-Call in my Zoom desktop app’s settings, I no longer had to worry about manually clicking the “Join” button or scrambling to find the meeting link. Instead, when a meeting I’m scheduled to attend starts, Zoom automatically calls me, and I get a prompt on my screen with options to Join or Decline the meeting.

If I’m ready, I simply tap Join and jump right in. If I’m tied up or running late, I can tap Decline — and a message will appear reminding me that if I’m running late, I can join the meeting anytime by clicking the invite link later.

What I Love Most?

• It’s effortless: I don’t have to remember to click “Join” at the exact time.

• The clear Join or Decline options let me decide in the moment if I can attend or need to catch up later.

• The helpful reminder message about joining later if I’m running late is reassuring.

• It works great for ad hoc meetings too — if I’m on the invite list and the meeting starts, Zoom calls me automatically.

• No more missed or delayed starts means more productive conversations.

How To Get Started? 

If you’re like me and handle multiple meetings a day, I highly recommend trying out Auto-Call. Here’s how to enable it:

1. Open the Zoom desktop app and click your profile picture.

2. Go to Settings > General.

3. Under the Auto-call section, toggle on “Automatically receive a call when a scheduled meeting starts.”

4. Or, on your desktop client, go to General > Auto-Call (see image below). 

Give it a shot — it’s a small change with a big impact on staying connected and on time!

[crissyd]

This is really helpful, especially when we’re so focused on a task that we miss the desktop notifications / quick meeting reminders! Thanks for sharing, @iambobsat

[joebrug]

I just enabled this at our place but havent fully tested yet. I'm curious what the "running late" option does.. does it inform the host that you're running late? or call you back in X minutes? Also, I've seen what it does if you're already in a meeting (join/decline).. but does it do the same if you're on a phone call? Great feature IMHO. 

[Bri]

Very useful! Thank you for sharing this, @iambobsat 💙

[joebrug]

@iambobsat I have one user complaining that if the meeting ends before its scheduled time (or perhaps if he leaves before its over) that Zoom tries to call them to bring them back in. Have you seen similar behavior?

[ShirleyT]

I would like to ask about this auto-call feature:
For example, I schedule a meeting and enable auto-call in my zoom's setting, so I will receive call when the scheduled meeting starts. If other participant don't enable auto-call, will they receive calls (as the host enables auto-call)?