Zoom to allow unlimited meetings as holiday gift amid pandemic

Zoom is lifting its 40-minute cap on free meetings for users during certain days this holiday season, the company announced this week. 

Zoom is allowing users unlimited meeting times during days spanning the end of Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and the last days of Kwanzaa, as a “token of appreciation to our users during an extraordinary time,” the company said in a blog post. 

The dates and times for the unlimited meetings are: 10 a.m. on Dec. 17 to 6 a.m. on Dec. 19, 10 a.m. on Dec. 23 to 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, and 10 a.m. on Dec. 30 to 6 a.m. on Jan. 2. 

The time limit will be automatically lifted during the designated times, and users will not need to do anything to remove the limit, Zoom said. 

The company made a similar decision in November, lifting the time limit for meetings on Thanksgiving. 

Typically, meetings with multiple users are capped at 40 minutes for users using free Zoom plans.

Zoom has seen a boom in popularity this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, as school and work shifted online. Users also flocked to the site to gather for personal use as public health officials put in place social distancing guidance and requirements to limit the spread of the coronavirus. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged Americans not to travel for Christmas to mitigate the spread of the potentially fatal virus that has infected more than 17 million people in the U.S.