So if you’re avoiding the app, you’ll need to sign up and sign in to Zoom via the website. Zoom won’t let you dodge both options completely.

There is a way to start and join Zoom calls without downloading anything, but you will need to sign up for an account.Īnnoyingly, this applies to people who just want to participate in a call too – you can either avoid downloading the app and sign up to join a call, or avoid signing up and download the app to join calls. Related: Best ways to video chat How to use Zoom without the app You can then punch this in to access the call via the ‘Join Meeting’ section on the Zoom app or website.

If they need to grab the details from a live call, the ID will appear on the top of their video – ask them to ping this over to you. If it’s a scheduled meeting, they can find this by looking at their Zoom calendar, which is displayed when they either launch the app or navigate to the Meetings section of their Zoom profile. They should also be able to find a unique meeting ID for the video chat.

If you’re joining a Zoom meeting rather than hosting one, then you’ll need to grab the details from the host. Related: Zoom vs Google Meet How to join a Zoom meeting If you want to schedule a meeting for the future, there’s a button for that too, which you’ll find on the starting page of the app. Once that’s done, open the app on your phone or laptop and simply click ‘New Meeting’ to start a call. It is possible to use Zoom without downloading this, but if you’re going to save yourself a lot of hassle we recommend installing it. Next, you’ll probably want to download the Zoom app. You can’t start a meeting without this, but your co-workers don’t need to have accounts to join you (more on that below.) How to start a Zoom meetingįirst, you need to set yourself up with a Zoom account, which you can create here.

We’ve pulled together an easy how-to-use guide below, and thrown in some extra tricks and tips at the end for good measure. The free plan even lets you cram in 100 people on a call, so it’s a useful tool for both lecturers and people with really, really big families. The software is reliable and requires virtually no tech-savvy to operate. Despite a few security wobbles, Zoom remains a firm favourite with people looking to video chat with friends, family and colleagues.Īnd it’s easy to see why.

Zoom app for windows