Zoom adds support for vanishing pen, several new emoji reactions in latest update

The popular video meeting service is now adding support for a new ‘vanishing’ pen feature to its meeting app, the company stated on Monday in its release notes.

Zoom gains some useful new features. (Anna Shvets/Pexels)

The past year has seen the rise of video meeting apps across the world, from Zoom to Meet and Microsoft Teams to Cisco Webex. They have been used by several companies that switched to remote working setups, and the increase in users and competition has prompted the developers to add more features over time. The latest app to gain a new round of features is Zoom, with new emoji and in-meeting features.

Zoom is adding support for a new ‘vanishing' pen feature to its meeting app,  the company stated on Monday in its release notes. While users can already highlight certain areas while screen sharing, they currently remain there until they are removed. The new vanishing pen feature will slowly fade after a certain amount of time instead, which can save a lot of time and avoid interrupting your flow. Zoom also says that windows can be minimised when sharing screen and allowing Zoom windows to be seen during the share.

The video meeting service is also adding support for an auto shape generation tool for users to draw if they are also joining a meeting from a second device with a large screen such as an iPad or an Android tablet in order to make use of the app's whiteboard feature. This should help teachers and other educators that want the other participants to pay attention to certain parts of the screen.

Emojis have become an integral part of modern web communications, but Zoom had until now limited the use of emoji for reactions. The company is now allowing any emoji available for Zoom chat to be used as a reaction in a meeting. However, users will need to be on version 5.2.0 or later, and hosts can control this setting to disable it completely according to Zoom's release notes.