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Why Does Zoom Keep Freezing?

Why Does Zoom Keep Freezing

Zoom is a video conferencing and virtual meetings app that gained popularity during the Covid 19 pandemic. After businesses resumed regular working schedules, many companies were forced to re-evaluate their working dynamics to allow employees to work and participate in meetings virtually.

Zoom isn’t only valuable for professional settings. You can also use it to facilitate casual and semi-casual meetings like estate meetings, friends’ groups meetings, and many more. If you use Zoom frequently, you may have dealt with Zoom freezing in the middle of a video or audio call.

Quick Answer

There are several reasons your Zoom keeps freezing. Examples include having an outdated app or having slow hardware acceleration. Zoom developers regularly update the app to fix bugs, malware, and other issues. If your app is outdated, it’s likely missing software essential for smooth running.

Read on for an in-depth review of why your Zoom keeps freezing and how to fix it.

Overview of Zoom Freezing

Zoom has become an integral app for most businesses as it’s significant in facilitating meetings. Zoom is mainly popular because it’s easy to use and compatible with various platforms, including Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS. The app’s availability and ease of use make it convenient to hold meetings from anywhere.

Like any other app, Zoom is susceptible to crashes and freezes. If you use this app regularly, encountering issues like freezing regularly can be inconvenient. Zoom freezing in the middle of a call can be potentially embarrassing and risks painting you as unprofessional.

If you’re struggling with Zoom freezing issues, the best thing is to learn why it may be happening and how to fix it. Next, we’ll cover several reasons your Zoom keeps freezing and quick solutions to try.

Reasons for Zoom Freezing

Let’s cover some possible reasons why your Zoom may be freezing.

An Outdated App

One of the main reasons why your Zoom may be freezing is that you’re using an outdated version. As noted in the introduction, app developers regularly update apps after they fix bugs and software to ensure they run smoothly. Outdated apps will likely suffer glitches and software outages because they have unaddressed problems.

The good news is fixing a Zoom freezing problem because of an outdated app is straightforward. You’ll need to download the latest app compatible with your device. If you’re unsure whether there’s a recent update, use the following steps to check and update on the Zoom desktop app.

  1. Launch Zoom.
  2. Click on your profile picture at the top-right edge of the screen.
  3. Scroll down the menu and click on “Check For Updates.”
  4. If there’s an available update, click “Update.
  5. Wait for the download to complete, then click “Install” and wait until it finished.

Outage of Service

Sometimes your Zoom will freeze because there’s a problem with service availability. This mainly happens when there’s downtime with Zoom systems. Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to fix a service outage issue because the problem lies with Zoom.

If you suspect a Zoom service outage is why you’re experiencing a freeze, go to the Zoom status page or official social media accounts to verify. The Zoom status page will have clear information about which components are experiencing an outage. For example, Zoom Meetings, Conference room connector, or Webinars.

Components experiencing an outage will have an “Under Maintenance” or “Degraded Performance” marker. Usually, the status page will also cover expected timelines for outage resolution.

Hardware Acceleration

The default Zoom app uses a hardware resources function called “hardware acceleration” to improve features performance. Unfortunately, this can sometimes conflict with the app and cause freezing during launch or in the middle of calls and videos.

If you suspect hardware acceleration is the problem, you can do a quick test to verify. To do this on the desktop app:

  1. Launch Zoom.
  2. Click on the gear icon to open “Settings.”
  3. Click “Video on the left-side panel.
  4. Click “Advanced.”
  5. You’ll see a “Use Hardware Acceleration For” section.
  6. Uncheck all the options.

After unchecking hardware acceleration, attempt to reconnect your video and see if there’s a freeze. If there isn’t, then hardware acceleration was the issue.

Incompatible Audio/Video Source

You might experience Zoom freezing if you’re using an external webcam that isn’t plugged in. When your audio or video source isn’t plugged in, the source tab becomes inaccessible, and you receive errors like Zoom quits unexpectedly, or the app freezes and fails to connect.

If this happens, changing the audio or video source is best. The steps below are for the Zoom desktop app.

  1. Click on the gear icon to open “Settings.”
  2. Click on “Video” and locate the “Camera” section.
  3. Click on the drop-down arrow and select a different source.
  4. For audio, click on “Audio.”
  5. Click on the drop-down arrow below the “Speaker” section.
  6. Select another source.

Outdated Audio or Video Drivers

If none of the reasons explained above fit your situation, expired audio or video drivers could be the reason for Zoom freezing. Like app updates, drivers require regular fixing of bugs and features to ensure they are compatible with your apps and run smoothly.

Steps to update audio or video drivers will depend on your platform. The most convenient way to update is to visit the platform’s official website and check for recent drivers. After downloading and installing them, re-open Zoom and verify that there’s no crash or freeze.

Summary

Zoom freezing in the middle of a meeting can be frustrating. If you experience this problem regularly, your app may need updating, or the hardware acceleration function is interfering with the app.

Other reasons for Zoom freezing include incompatible audio or video input devices or obsolete drivers. In other cases, some components of Zoom may be experiencing a service outage. If you suspect a service outage, go to Zoom’s status page to verify.

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