Help with terms and meetings

[ursprung]

I have been using Zoom for two years without understanding it and I need to ask the following:

1. is the personal meeting id what we always use to send someone so they can connect with me?
2. what is the host key and when and how do i use it?
3. is using zoom on macbook any different from iPhone? I Have meeting this week from my iphone and I am worried that connecting to my scheduled meeting with my personal meeting id will be somehow different to open. 
4. Use Personal Meeting ID for instant meetings--what is this?
5. What is the purpose of a Passcode and why do I not see this in my profile?

Thanks for any and all help.

[Bort]

Hi @ursprung 

1. If you only want to use and remember one meeting, then using your PMI is the best route. You might use a different meeting besides your PMI, if you ever want to schedule a different meeting with a different meeting ID, maybe for a personal meeting with family that no one else should be able to access. 
2. Your host key is like a secret passcode that allows you to be recognized as the host in the meeting. This is useful in situations when you are not logged in to your account, which is how Zoom would normally recognize you as the official host. 
3. The app for iPhone is organized a little differently, but has most of the same functionality. Just be sure to sign in to the same account on the iPhone, as you do on your macbook. 
4. When you click on the Start meeting button in the app, this will start an instant meeting. This is great for a quick ad-hoc meeting, but once the meeting is ended, the ID used for that meeting is already gone and invalid. To make that simpler, you can enable that setting, so that all your 'instant meetings" instead use your PMI. 
5. A passcode just helps make your meetings more secure.  Learn more here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360033559832-Zoom-Meeting-and-Webinar-passcodes

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any further questions. Otherwise, make sure to mark the solution as accepted if this information is what you needed.

[ursprung]

Thanks so much for this!!! All is clear to me except #4:

If I start a meeting, how will the other person know how to join  me? What is the advantage to this over, say, a meeting with my PMI? 

Thanks again!!

[Bort · Accepted solution]

Hi @ursprung 

Yeah, that's the trick with instant meetings. Since its a random ID generated when the meeting starts, you would need to invite a contact or copy/share the invite through email or message during the live session, which can be a struggle. 

If you just need to always start your PMI, enabling this would be the best option, as you can share your PMI link ahead of time and clicking the Start button will get you right into that meeting every time. 

[ursprung]

Thank you so very much!  I really appreciate this. I have been so busy since Lockdown #1 that I literally still don't eat more than once a day. You have saved me hours of reading. Thanks again.