Does Zoom Record Your Screen or Just the Meeting: The Truth
Virtual meetings have become necessary for businesses and organizations to stay connected in today’s digital age. Zoom, one of the most popular platforms for these meetings, offers a variety of features and options, including video conferencing, screen sharing, etc., to enhance the virtual meeting experience. One of its features is screen recording which helps users to record their interactions.
Does Zoom Record Your Screen or Just the Meeting
However, an important question that many people have in their minds is what Zoom records during a meeting. Does it capture the audio and video, or does it also record the screen or both? This article will explore this topic in-depth to help answer this question and provide a comprehensive understanding. Discover whether Zoom records your screen or just the meeting and how to manage your recording settings to ensure your privacy.
Also read: How to Record Google Hangout for Free? >
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Does the Zoom Record Your Screen or Just the Meeting?
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a powerful communication web service and an application that enables users to connect and collaborate without geographic limitations. It allows interruption-less video conferencing, online meetings, and webinars. Besides this, it also offers a wide range of features, such as screen sharing, recording, etc., making it a popular choice for businesses, organizations, and individuals to stay connected and productive.
Zoom Interface
Overview of Zoom:
- It allows users to host meetings with up to 1,000 participants.
- It allows users to chat and share files during meetings.
- It follows proper safety features to ensure the safety and privacy of users.
- It has a robust and easy-to-use interface.
- It is available on Windows, MacOS, Ubuntu, IOS, and Android.
Zoom’s Advantages:
- Allows live streaming of conferences on social media apps like Facebook.
- Allows to draw or add comments on the shared screen.
- Unlimited 40 min long video conference for free
Zoom’s Shortcomings:
- No option to delete inappropriate messages.
- Allows limited virtual background options.
- Inadequate preventive measures to control Zoombombing.
User Satisfaction:
- G2: 5/5 (52,466 reviews)
- Capterra: 6/5 (13,442 reviews)
Price plan:
- $0 – $19.99 /Month
- $0 – $199.90 /Year
- Allow custom enterprise plan /Monthly or Yearly
Does the Zoom Record Your Screen or Just the Meeting?
Now that you know the usefulness of the Zoom app, you must be wondering does it record your screen or just the meeting. You have come to the right section! Firstly, Zoom allows two recording options, i.e., automatic and manual. In automatic recording, the recording automatically starts with the meeting, whereas in manual recording, the host must start the recording of the meeting explicitly.
To answer the question, Zoom recording records the audio, video, and screen during the conference. However, it is important to note that the screen is only recorded if you intend to share it with the participants while the recording is in progress. Hence, it is clear that Zoom ensures the user’s privacy by not recording the screen without a permit, allowing users to record their sessions with peace of mind and without any privacy concerns.
Also Read: Can Zoom Detect Screen Recording >
How Zoom Works in Record Meetings?
When a Zoom meeting is being recorded after the permit from the host or co-host, all participants in the meeting will be notified that the session is being recorded. The recording can be paused and resumed at any time during the meeting by the host. It will capture all the activities, such as whiteboard work, shared screen, etc.
The recorded content can be stored on the local storage or the cloud. Once the meeting is recorded, you can view it by following the direction “C:” > “[User_Name]” > “Documents” > “Zoom” > “[date]recording.”
To start a meeting and record as a host, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Launch the Zoom application on your device.
Open Zoom
Step 2: Now click on “New Meeting” and wait until the new windows appear completely.
Step 3: Click “Record” to start recording the audio and video.
Click on New Meeting
Step 4: Now, you click on “Share Screen” > select any option > “Share.” Now, the shared screen will also be part of the recording.
Click Share
Popular Alternatives to Zoom
Are you looking for zoom alternatives? Then this section is for you. With the advancement in technology today, there are many third-party apps other than the zoom app that allow you to connect remotely for meetings. In this section, we will talk about the three best alternatives you can use for e-conferencing. Let’s discuss a few of them.
Gemoo Recorder
Gemoo Recorder is an excellent good Zoom alternative. If you want to become a video creator and record online meetings or create training material or tutorial videos for your subscribers or your clients. Gemoo Voice Recorder is a good choice. Whether you’re a teacher, marketer, gamer, or engineer, you can use Gemoo Recorder to easily record the screen and sound on Mac and share it with others. No complicated operations are required, making recording easy and enjoyable.
Overview of Gemoo Recorder
- Record the camera and the computer screen simultaneously, or record the camera only.
- When working on a meeting or giving a presentation, you should screen record your computer’s screen with audio.
- Soundtracks from microphones and systems are both supported.
- Under the annotation toolbar, you can add other annotations as well as draw lines, text, stickers, and other elements.
- Allow users to record screens without a watermark or time limit.
Gemoo Recorder Advantages:
- Upload the images to Gemoo cloud or save them locally, with your choice.
- Pay attention to protecting your privacy.
- Observe the creative freedom. Numerous original ideas for your videos?
- To customize your webcam, Gemoo Recorder also provides a selection of filters and frames.
- Supports both Mac and Windows.
User Satisfaction:
- Producthunt: 5/5 (9 reviews)
Price Plan: Free
Webex Meetings
Webex Meetings is a video and web conferencing software developed by Cisco that allows users to conduct virtual meetings and conferences. It can be used for various purposes, including remote work, online classes, and virtual events, and is widely used by businesses, educational institutions, and government organizations.
It has a web application for desktop and laptop users and a mobile app for iOS and Android users. It provides its users with several features, including real-time collaboration, screen recording, document sharing, etc. Furthermore, it has an affordable pricing plan, making it a possible option for companies to opt for this tool to proceed with their work remotely.
Webex Meetings Interface
Overview of Webex Meetings:
- It follows possible security features such as encryption and password protection to secure your meetings.
- Allow users to schedule and join meetings directly from the calendar.
- The feature of Virtual Whiteboard allows users to share and collaborate ideas.
- Allows integration with other Cisco collaboration tools like Webex Teams.
- Allows passing keyboard and mouse control.
Webex Meetings Advantages:
- Host’s access to manage participants and customize meeting settings.
- Allows recording and saving the meetings.
- Availability of accessibility features like closed captioning and keypad shortcuts
- Provides international dial-in numbers for global teams to connect.
Webex Meetings Shortcomings:
- Limited control over background noise.
- Less intuitive user interface than competitors.
- Integration with limited apps only.
User Satisfaction:
- G2: 2/5 (14,412 reviews)
- Capterra: 4/5 (6660 reviews)
Price Plan:
- $0 – $144/ Year
- $0 – $14.5/ Month.
- Allow custom enterprise plan/ Monthly or Yearly.
GoTo Meeting
GoToMeeting is a web-hosted service that allows for remote and online video meetings and conferencing with the help of the internet from anywhere around the world. It includes a range of features that help to make these interactions among colleagues and users as seamless and yielding as possible such as screen sharing, screen recording, remote control, and many more.
GoToMeeting is a good solution for businesses looking for a comprehensive and flexible web conferencing and online meeting tool with a reasonable pricing plan. In short, GoTo Meetings fulfills most of the requirements that need to be in video conferencing software compatible with desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.
Overview of GoTo Meeting:
- It allows users to collaborate on documents, presentations, and other files in real time.
- It has built-in meeting audio.
- It provides HD quality on every subscription plan.
- It also has a neat messaging user interface.
- Allows users to integrate with other apps like Calendar, Outlook, and Slack
GoTo Meeting’s Advantages:
- Accommodate meetings with up to 3000 participants.
- Instant One-click meeting option.
- Provides call me support.
GoTo Meeting’s Shortcomings:
- Quality depends on a good internet connection.
- Limited chat functionality.
- Unavailability of all features on the mobile app.
User Satisfaction:
- G2: 2/5 (13,192 reviews)
- Capterra: 5/5 (9972 reviews)
Price Plan:
- $12- $16/ Month
- $144- $192/ Year
- Custom Enterprise plan/ Monthly or Yearly
Fuze
Fuze is a cloud-based unified communications platform that provides businesses with various collaboration tools, making it easy for them to manage and coordinate all their communication needs in one place. The platform includes video conferencing, audio conferencing, screen sharing, instant messaging, and much more.
Furthermore, it is accessible via a user-friendly interface on laptops, desktops, and mobile devices anytime. Fuze is a powerful solution for businesses looking to increase their mutual working at an affordable price plan without the restriction of being geographically together.
Fuze Interface
Overview of Fuze:
- It allows users to conduct meetings with up to 1000 participants.
- It supports Integration with other tools like Salesforce etc.
- It works using VoIP ( Voice over IP) technology.
- It also allows users to record the meetings and save them for future use.
- It Strictly obeys security protocols to ensure customer privacy is not breached.
Fuze Advantages:
- Real-time content sharing.
- Users are kept informed with timely notifications.
- Customer support for helping users.
- Availability of analytical details for monitoring communication.
Fuze Shortcomings:
- Extremely costly considering the functionality it provides.
- Cannot export the call list.
- Limited features compared to competitors.
User Satisfaction:
- G2: 5/5 (121 reviews)
- Capterra: 2/5 (72 reviews)
Price Plan:
- $15- $65/ Month.
- $180- $780/ Year
- Custom Enterprise plan/ Monthly.
Final Thought
With the wide range of software available today, companies can hold online meetings and recordings, which can help them achieve their goals remotely. However, users have privacy concerns about the recordings, and questions like “does zoom record your screen or just the meeting?” arise in their minds. Hence, we have answered this question in detail and we hope you found this article informative. If you did, please feel free to share it with your friends and leave a comment with your thoughts or feedback in the comment section.
