Zoom announced the launch of an automatic update feature yesterday, which aims to simplify the update process for desktop clients.
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The new feature is currently only available for desktop Zoom clients on Windows and macOS, with the Linux not yet supported.
The popular video conferencing app says mobile users can also automatically update their apps through their app stores' built-in automatic updates.
“For most individual users, automatic updates will be enabled by default. When enabled, users will have the opportunity to opt out of automatic updates for their desktop client after the first installation or the first update where this feature is available,” said Jeromie Clark , Technical Product Manager for Security & Privacy at Zoom.
“Users can also change this preference at any time by selecting or deselecting “Automatically update my Zoom” under Zoom > Settings > General.”
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Zoom users will be able to switch between slow and fast update frequencies, with less frequent updates and a focus on maximizing stability when Slow is selected. The latest features and updates will be installed as soon as they are available when you select the Fast update channel.
However, regardless of the selected update channel, critical security updates for the Zoom client will be automatically released to all users who have automatic updates enabled.
Zoom has also added two-factor authentication (2FA) support since September 2020, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in October 2020, and security improvements to stop zoombombing trolls a month later.
The company's video conferencing software has become an extremely popular way to communicate with friends and colleagues, and it has been hosting online meetings since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuanreported a significant increase in April 2020, after the platform reached 300 million daily participants. The automatic updates for desktop clients come at a good time, as Zoom has patched over a dozen medium- and high-severity security flaws in the past two months alone.
