Comparison Chart Between Zoom on the Web, Desktop, and iPad

Tags ipad zoom

Overview

The Zoom desktop client, mobile app, and web client have different features than the Zoom web portal. The Zoom web portal is primarily used for changing your profile and meeting settings.  You can also use the web portal to schedule, view, and edit meetings.

Comparison

Feature Windows
macOS
iPad/iOS Web client

Start or join meeting

Join a meeting without signing in
Join a meeting in progress
Sign in using Zoom account, Google, Facebook, or SSO
Start an instant meeting.
Schedule one-time or recurring meeting  
Share your screen in a Zoom Room by entering in the sharing key or meeting ID.  
Display upcoming meetings  
Display synced calendar events (if you added a third-party calendar service)  
View, edit, start, or delete your scheduled meetings  
Participants are pre-assigned to breakout rooms (if set up by the host)  

In-meeting controls (participants and hosts)

Join computer audio
(A)
Mute/unmute mic
Start/stop video
Invite others to join meeting
Change your screen name for the meeting
Non-verbal feedback
Share screen
(B)
In-meeting chat
Start cloud recording
Start local recording    
Request remote control
Gallery view  
Participant in breakout rooms

In-meeting controls (hosts and co-hosts)

Create, edit, and launch polls    
Start breakout rooms (host only)  
View pre-assigned participants in breakout rooms (if set up in web portal)    
Live stream meeting    

In-meeting security controls (hosts and co-hosts)

Lock meeting (don't allow other participants to join the meeting in progress)
Place the attendee in a virtual waiting room
Control if participants can share screen
Control if participants can use in-meeting chat
Control if participants can unmute or rename themselves
Enable/disable video receiving    

Webinar controls (hosts)

Launch question and answer session
Launch polls    
Live stream webinar    

Manage participants (hosts)

Stop a participant's video
Assign a participant to be the host
Assign a participant to be a co-host
Allow a participant to start or stop a recording  
Assign a participant to type closed caption
Change a participant's name that is displayed to other participants
Remove participant from meeting
Mute/unmute all participants
Automatically mute participants as they join the meeting
Play chime when participants join and leave
Don't allow other participants to join the meeting in progress
Control who participants can chat with
Put a participant on hold

Share screen controls

Share whiteboard  
Annotate on shared screen or whiteboard  
Pause your current shared screen  
Show or hide names of annotators  
Stop a participant's screen share (host and co-host only)    
Control if multiple participants can share screen simultaneously  

Profile

Add a personal note  
Change profile photo or screen name
Note: On the desktop client, you will be redirected to the web portal to change your screen name
 
Manually change your status    

Chat

Mark messages as unread  
Edit your sent messages    
Delete your sent messages, images, or files  
Save images or files sent in the chat  
Add messages to your starred list and view all messages you have starred    
View starred messages in a specific chat  
Use your personal chat space  
Send images or files  
View all files sent or all files received in chat  
Share sent or received chat files with contacts  
Send a capture of the current screen    
Send animated GIFs    
Send code snippets    
Send emoticons  
Encrypted chat  
Store chat message history  
Invite contacts to an existing chat  

Channels

Change notifications for new channel messages  
Add channels to your starred list and view channels you have starred  
Create a channel  
Edit a channel (must be a channel admin)  
Invite members to a channel  

Contacts

Add contacts  
Add contacts to your starred list and view contacts you have starred  
Directory for contacts, channels, and Zoom Rooms  
Add contact to auto-answer group    

Settings

Automatically join meeting by computer or device audio  
Automatically mute when joining meeting  
Automatically call phone number to join meeting    
Insert a link preview whenever a chat message contains a link  
Change notification settings for chat  
Manage blocked contacts    
Display meeting reminders  
Display connected meeting time  
Display closed captions (if available)  
Automatically disable your video when joining a meeting  
Touch up appearance    
Virtual Background
(iOS only) 
 

Note (A): Joining computer audio on Safari is only available for webinar attendees.

Note (B):

  • Screen sharing on Microsoft Edge requires Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. It is not supported on Windows 10 Home. If you are running Windows 10 Home and need to share your screen, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox.
  • Screen sharing is not supported on Safari.

Note:

  • We recommend using the desktop client or mobile app. Only use the web client if can't access the other options.
  • The web client column applies to Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Safari. The web client on Internet Explorer does not support these features: share video or screen, join computer audio, view shared video, and simultaneous screen share.

Article Credit: Desktop client, mobile app, and web client comparison, Zoom

Print Article

Related Articles (1)

Live captioning (called live transcription) in Zoom is available to all faculty, staff, and students.  Live transcriptions show text to speech on the lower part of the Zoom window or in a full transcript window. Live transcripts are machine-generated and while they are not as accurate as a person, they can be helpful for participants in a loud or public space, do not have access to headphones or speakers, are English language learners, or benefit from hearing and reading content simultaneously.