The video conferencing app that millions of people

are using to stay in touch with their friends and family.

It's grown immensely, basically overnight,

because of the pandemic and people are hosting

all sorts of things on Zoom.

Some people are even getting married on Zoom.

It's obviously a super surreal time right now

and people are trying to find the easiest

and cheapest way to stay in touch

with their friends and family.

Zoom is super easy and cheap to use,

but that ease of use might be coming at a cost.

Researchers and privacy advocates are finding security

and privacy issues with Zoom on what feels

like a daily basis now.

Zoom could become a victim of its own success

as it faces a privacy and security backlash.

Now, to understand why Zoom became so popular

so quickly you have to understand how the app works.

Every Zoom call comes with a nine to 11 digit

randomly generated code and participants

have to enter that code in order to access a meeting.

That's super easy compared to its competitors.

Skype for example requires a long case sensitive,

alpha numeric password and FaceTime

requires having an Apple ID.

Zoom is definitely easier.

By default though, you can jump into a Zoom meeting

with just that little ID number

or even a link and start broadcasting your webcam

or the content of your screen to anybody on the call.

Now, this makes Zoom sound ideal

and super easy to use, but it's also lead

to a phenomenon called Zoom bombing.

This is where pranksters join Zoom meetings

from links that are posted publicly

and stream porn or other offensive videos.

It's shocking and terrible,

and especially bad when it affects school aged children.

A lot of the privacy and security concerns

started with Zoom bombing,

but then, as researchers dug deeper into the app,

they found more.

For one, they discovered Zoom

might have shared information with Facebook.

That lead to two lawsuits against Zoom

and the attention of the office

of New York's Attorney General which sent a letter

to the company to better understand its security practices.

The FBI has also warned about Zoom's default settings

and some companies are even now starting to ban Zoom

as a result.

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These are just a couple of Zoom's privacy

and security issues.

So, why are people still using this app?

Well, it comes down to what I was talking about earlier.

Zoom just works.

You can have an unlimited number of meetings

and up to 100 people to chat for free at a time.

This means, an entire classroom can jump in

and do virtual meetings, or groups of friends

can get together without paying anything.

Zoom also does a great job with gallery view

on all those conference calls.

Its competitors sometimes make people look

like disjointed, floating heads.

At a time when everyone is stressing about the pandemic,

people are going to flock to whatever's free

and easiest to use.

And right now, that's Zoom.

Skype, the video calling service we probably all remember

from 10 years ago also has a similar way

to hold video meetings, but for a long time,

it was buried away and most people didn't know

that feature existed.

Microsoft, since acquiring Skype,

has instead focused on building its team's software

after years of letting Skype's reliability

and its user interface become kind of questionable.

Houseparty has grown in popularity too

for many of the same reasons as Zoom.

Cisco Webex, StarLeaf, Whereby

and Google Hangouts are just some solid alternatives to Zoom

and some rival services are even lowering their free limits

to get more people using their apps right now.

All these video apps are good and different

in a variety of ways.

It's worth exploring and seeing what's out there

and what you like the most.

Just know that Zoom isn't your only option.

All right, so what is Zoom doing about all

of these privacy and security concerns?

The company is not rolling out any new features

for 90 days to focus on reviewing the problems

that researchers and journalists have raised for one.

It's also now claiming that the app was never designed

to be used by general consumers

or for the influx of people who are using the app

in strange and wonderful ways.

And while that might be true,

the app is easy to use for everybody

regardless of whether they're in an office or not.

Zoom now faces tough decisions

around its default user settings and user's privacy concerns

and ultimately, how much it's willing to give up

its ease of use.

Zoom might just have to tighten up aspects

of its app that made it so appealing to consumers

and businesses in the first place.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to decide

whether we're happy to give up some privacy

for software that's free.

That's a familiar choice that millions of people face

with services like Facebook, or Google

that are also popular and best in class.

The harsh reality is that you either pay for an app

with cash or with your personal data

and that decision usually comes down to trust.

Zoom needs to prove to its millions of new users

that it can be trusted during a time

when they need it the most.

Hey, thanks for watching.

As always, stay tuned to The Verge.

We are pumpin' out videos to keep you guys entertained.

Please stay safe and healthy.

And call your mom, call your friends,

talk over video chat.

It's gonna keep us all connected.