Software

How do I remove apps from Zoom calls?

Zoom on a MacBook Air
App-free: declutter your Zoom calls

After a recent update to Zoom, whenever you now have a meeting, you may find a vertical row of apps running down the right-hand side. These can be turned off just for that meeting but if, like me, you find them distracting and want them gone by default, then you can do this too. Here’s how to remove apps from Zoom calls.

Zoom apps: what? why?

Zoom introduced apps some time ago – these are often integrations for popular third-party applications, as well as useful utilities, such as a timer.

Zoom must have felt that most people weren’t aware of them, so have now added a bar displaying the apps to every call. These run vertically down the right-hand side of the Zoom meeting window (which you can see an example of to the right of this paragraph) and show the ones you have installed, as well as others that Zoom recommends.

How to remove Zoom apps for one meeting

To toggle this bar on and off, you need to hit the “Apps” button at the bottom of the meeting window:

Zoom apps icon

However, this is only temporary – start another meeting and the apps will reappear.

How to remove Zoom apps permanently

If you don’t want to go to the hassle of switching the Zoom apps off every time you have a meeting, there’s an easy solution

Time needed: 1 minute

How to switch off the Zoom apps bar

  1. Find the apps bar menu

    At the very bottom of the apps bar you’ll see three vertical dots – click on these.

  2. Untick Open In All Meetings

    A menu should appear. You should see that “Open In All Meetings” is ticked. Click that option to untick.

  3. Now close the apps bar for this meeting

    You can either click on Close Dock in the above menu or tap the Apps button at the bottom of the Zoom window – either will close the apps bar.

And that’s it. Next time you start a Zoom meeting, the apps bar won’t be there.

Where are Zoom recordings saved?

About the author

David Artiss

Works for Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr. Tech geek, international speaker and occasional PC Pro podcaster. Lover of Lego and video games.

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  • Thank you so much for helping me disable the irritating App Dock which has been opening at every meeting.
    Such a quick and easy solution!