Zoom's 40-minute time limit - Serious UX issue

[tarunsaminathan]

"Zoom's 40-minute time limit for free users" is being spoken all over the web in social media, zoom community etc. From a business strategy perspective, I agree with the idea behind this feature. I wonder, however, if the application is good at indicating when meetings automatically end. It probably isn't. Zoom has serious UX problems.

Zoom is not something I use regularly and I am still unfamiliar with all its features. On October 19th, I attended a meeting with the founder of a design company. The founder was reviewing my portfolio as our team was engrossed in the shared screen. All of a sudden, the meeting ended. It took a little time for us to settle back to normal. Despite having a timer interface in the top centre, we missed it because I hope it wasn't visually appealing.

I consider it a significant meeting in my life. Whether Zoom decides to keep the 40-minute feature or remove it, Indicating the last few seconds should be more appealing by adding a blinking red rectangular box around the video-call screen or something like that.

[Rupert]

Hi @tarunsaminathan 

I haven't used a free account in Zoom for a while, but my last recollection was that a popup warning was given as the time limit was approaching. Maybe this has changed. This may also only go to the Host - I'm not sure.

But I do think that free users bare some of the responsibility in maintaining an awareness of the limitations of their account - even if the signals are not visually appealing.

Users using Zoom for "significant", or otherwise critical, meetings might be well-advised to invest the, basically nominal, fee for a Pro account - particularly when using Zoom for 'professional" purposes. 

[EddiePAEK]

Hi, you could input here: https://zoom.us/feed, if you have any concerns. 😀