Joining a Zoom meeting anonymously

When joining a Zoom meeting, participants may want to join anonymously, restricting the amount of information available to other participants. This can be for personal privacy when joining public events, or when joining meetings for things like alcoholics (addiction) anonymous mental health group-based scenarios.

Note: A host can require authentication when participants join a meeting or require registration to join a meeting. Hosts can also remove a participant from a meeting, if they require users to have their video on, or do not recognize the participant’s chosen name in the meeting.

This article covers:

How to hide your video

When joining a Zoom meeting, disabling your video is one of the best ways to ensure your privacy when joining a meeting. 

Disable video before joining a meeting

Participants can set the default video state when joining a meeting from within the settings of their Zoom client. If you prefer to not have your camera when joining a meeting, this can be disabled within the video settings of the Zoom client.

Note: If you want to choose if your video is on or off when joining a meeting, the video preview dialog box feature can also be enabled as well.

Disable video when joining a meeting

  1. Open the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Click Join a Meeting.
  3. Enter the ID number of the meeting you are joining.
  4. Enter the name you want displayed in the meeting.
  5. Enable Turn off my video.
  6. Click Join.

Android | iOS

  1. Open the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Tap Join a Meeting.
  3. Enter the ID number of the meeting you are joining.
  4. Enter the name you want displayed in the meeting.
  5. Enable Turn off my video.
  6. Tap Join.

Web client

Note: The meeting host must enable Show a "Join from your browser" link for their participants.

  1. Locate the meeting invite link from your email or calendar invitation.
  2. Click the join link to join the meeting.
    On your web browser, a pop-up window will prompt you to open or download the application.
  3. In the pop-up window, click Cancel.
  4. At the bottom of the page, click join from your browser.
    You will be directed to a new page.
  5. Click Allow to allow Zoom permission for your microphone and camera.
  6. Enter the name you want to use to join the meeting.
  7. (Optional) Select the  Remember my name for future meetings checkbox.
  8. In the video preview window, click Stop Video.
  9. Click Join.

Using Virtual Backgrounds for added privacy

Virtual Backgrounds can be a great way to hide your surroundings if you are joining the meeting from a place with sensitive information, or if you want to minimize the view of your surroundings in general.

How to join with a guest name

Set your name before joining a meeting

If you have not joined a meeting yet, you will need to either join a test meeting and set your name when joining the test meeting, or create a Zoom account and set your display name in your Profile. This can be useful if you want to join a Zoom meeting with a different name. 

Note: If you are setting your display name in your Profile, then you will need to sign into the Zoom Client before joining a meeting, to ensure the correct display name is used. 

Set your name when joining

  1. Open the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Click Join a Meeting.
  3. Enter the ID number of the meeting you are joining.
  4. Enter the name you want to be displayed in the meeting.
  5. (Optional) Enable Remember my name for future meetings.
  6. Click Join.

Android | iOS

  1. Open the Zoom mobile app.
  2. Tap Join a Meeting.
  3. Enter the ID number of the meeting you are joining.
  4. Enter the name you want to be displayed in the meeting.
  5. Tap Join.

Web client

Note: The meeting host must enable Show a "Join from your browser" link for their participants.

  1. Locate the meeting invite link from your email or calendar invitation.
  2. Click the join link to join the meeting.
    On your web browser, a pop-up window will prompt you to open or download the application.
  3. In the pop-up window, click Cancel.
  4. At the bottom of the page, click join from your browser.
    You will be directed to a new page.
  5. Click Allow to allow Zoom permission for your microphone and camera.
  6. Enter the name you want to use to join the meeting.
  7. (Optional) Enable Remember my name for future meetings.
  8. Click Join.

Rename yourself during a meeting

While in a meeting, your display name can be changed while in a meeting, allowing you to have a different display name from when you joined.

Note: The host must allow participants to rename themselves, to be able to change their display name while in a meeting.

 To change your display name:

  1. In the meeting controls, click Participants.
  2. Hover over your name, and click More. 
  3. Click Rename.
  4. In the dialog box, enter your new display name.
  5. Click Rename.