One of the most widely-used Zoom apps is closing as the company looks to modernize some of its offerings for users around the world.
The video conferencing giant has announced it is shutting its app for Chromebooks, the low-cost machines running Google's ChromeOS that have become incredibly popular among schools and universities.
Users shouldn't fear the loss of Zoom forever though, as the company says it is only making the change in order to build something better.
Zoom on Chromebook
"This app will no longer be officially supported after August 2022. Please use the new Zoom for Chrome PWA to join meetings on ChromeOS," said a notice in the Zoom app for Chromebooks that has recently begun appearing.
The app is set to close by August 2022, meaning users have a few more weeks of the original offering, which was released during Zoom's heyday in the early weeks and months of the pandemic.
9to5Google, which first spotted the alert, notes that the Zoom app for Chromebooks is pretty basic, only offering standard access to video calls and meetings without any of the added functionality that has been added to other versions of Zoom over the years.
Google had announced back in August 2020 that it would be phasing out Chrome apps on all platforms, with support on Windows, Mac and Linux ending in June 2021. This was later extended to all Chrome apps on ChromeOS for June 2022, with the company no longer accepting new apps, and existing apps no longer being listed or made available to download on the Chrome Web Store.
Zoom had shown off a Progressive Web App (PWA) for Chromebooks in 2021, offering much of the standard functionality familiar to users on other platforms, as well as up to date UI and apps.
The news comes shortly after Zoom recorded a huge rise in enterprise customers to go alongside its consumer base as hybrid working remains popular.
In its most recent financial results, the company said that the number of customers contributing more than $100,000 was up 46% year-over-year, as it now has around 198,900 enterprise customers, up 24% from the same quarter in its last fiscal year.
