The 12 best Zoom Apps for hybrid work

The hybrid work environment revolution has inspired lightning-fast improvement of technology solutions that enable collaboration. When we first began working from home, Zoom didn’t have many of the features it has now, but it’s iterated and improved quickly. For instance, to solve the problem of people talking over one another, there’s now a “raise hand” feature. And to quickly find a chat, you can easily search through messages in the Zoom desktop app.  

Along with these native Zoom solutions are great apps that work seamlessly alongside Zoom. It turns out, having a powerful hybrid workforce really comes down to having the right tools at the ready.

We’ll walk you through the best Zoom Apps for every hybrid work model so you can level up your daily life and start feeling like the Zoom champion you are.

What are Zoom Apps?

Zoom Apps are integrations designed to use right inside the Zoom interface. There are both free and paid Zoom apps, and there are apps for just about anything—from games to finance. Which means there are hundreds of Zoom apps. It can be overwhelming to determine which ones are worth your time. The good news is that, if it’s in the Zoom marketplace, the app has had to meet strict standards. We’ve gone through all the Zoom Apps to determine the ones you need to ramp up your productivity

The best Zoom apps

1. Lucidspark

Fine, we’re biased. But even if we hadn’t built it, we’d still be using it. The fact is, adding Lucidspark to Zoom is a perfect match: all the convenience of video calls with all the organization, brainstorming, and interaction of in-person meetings. 

Here’s what you’ll get:

• A virtual whiteboard to increase engagement
• Breakout boards
• Timebox activities
• Notes
• In-app voting
• Color-coded collaboration

2. Google Calendar notifications

The Google Calendar app for Zoom will help you never forget another meeting. It will let you know when an event is altered and will even count you down to your next meeting. 

You’ll also get:

• Weekly summaries of your events
• Subscriptions to Google calendar notifications for any channels you select within your Zoom app
• Full customization of reminders and alerts

3. Gmail

Most of us spend our lives on Gmail, so it’s no wonder that we recommend the Gmail Zoom add-on. With this add-on, you can start and schedule Zoom calls within Gmail. The Zoom widget will live right inside your Gmail web interface. 

You’ll also get:

• Your email participants automatically added to scheduled meetings
• The ability to customize Zoom meetings within Gmail

4. Mailchimp

Go with the (email) flow and add Mailchimp into your Zoom interface. It will automatically send you notifications about campaign performance. But if you want to really make your Zoom/Mailchimp integration sing, you’ll need…

5. Zapier

This powerful app really shines at automation wizardry. There are thousands of ways you can use it to automate tasks. 

Here are a few:

• Add new Zoom registrants to Mailchimp as subscribers
• Create Zoom registrants for new subscribers in Mailchimp
• Enroll new Mailchimp subscribers as Zoom webinar registrants
• Create Zoom meetings for Calendly invites
• Add new Zoom meetings to Google calendar
• Upload new Zoom recordings to Google drive and send notifications via Gmail

See the possibilities? There are so many options, it’s worth a download just to see what you’re currently doing manually that could be automated with Zapier.

6. Google Drive

You’re using Google Drive to store just about everything, right? Google Drive for Zoom allows you to use the world’s most popular cloud storage for saving and storing your meetings. After you install, recordings and chat transcripts are automatically stored in a Zoom Recording folder. 

You can also:

• Choose to auto-delete the recording in the Zoom cloud when files are transferred to the Google drive
• Enable access for anyone who missed the meeting or would like to go back and watch it

7. Asana

Asana is a task management favorite for many hybrid work environments. With the Zoom + Asana integration, your meetings are created within Asana and then automatically posted to tasks for easy reference. 

You can:

• Easily prepare for meetings
• Create tasks immediately while still in the meeting
• Add additional content such as the meeting agenda and documents within the Asana task

8. Evernote

Evernote is the easy way to capture notes across all your devices while keeping them organized and cloud-hosted (so you won’t accidentally lose all those ideas for screenplays if your phone falls down a storm drain). 

When you use the Evernote app for Zoom, you’ll be able to see all your notes in the Zoom GUI. To access those notes, simply type “notes” in the Zoom interface. 

You can also:

• Type ‘/evernote meet’ to instantly begin a Zoom meeting
• Type ‘/evernote notebooks’ for a count of your notes by usage
• Type ‘/evernote create’ to start a new note with a direct link to it

9. Meetings.fun

Zoom fatigue is real. This great Zoom app is meant to liven things up with interactive, highly engaging games for your team. It’s all customizable and great for adding levity to your meetings. 

You can:

• Have funny, spontaneous quizzes (“Which member of marketing is the most likely to know every word of The Princess Bride?”)
• Have chuckle-worthy votes
• Ask free answer questions
• Begin your meetings with an icebreaker

10. Virtual backgrounds

This is an absolute must. Sure, we’re all familiar with the funny backgrounds our coworkers have used, but virtual backgrounds are more than just looking like you’re the captain of the Enterprise. 

Now, you can:

• Turn any image you’d like into a background
• Blur your background (either somewhat blurry or very blurry)
• Search through the Unsplash library with a specific keyword to find a specific image
• Automatically load your virtual background at the start of any Zoom meeting

11. Colibri

How many times have you written notes during a Zoom meeting only to realize you didn’t hear what was said while you were writing? You need Colibri. It provides instantaneous transcriptions, then generates searchable meeting notes. 

You can also:

• Add live captions to Zoom meetings
• Highlight important information in the call, then provide a summary of key points after the Zoom call
• Share your conversations with teammates
• Get real-time speaker labels so you know who said what

12. SurveyMonkey

There’s a good chance you’ve answered a survey with SurveyMonkey in the past. Now, you can integrate the same surveys and polls into your Zoom meetings to drive engagement and learn more about your team. Use a variety of different question types to really tailor the way you capture feedback. 

You can:

• Create custom polls and surveys
• Share the responses in real time
• Capture new ideas
• Get anonymous feedback
• Use pre-built templates to get started

Zoom is here to stay and we love the advancements it’s made over the course of the past year. Supercharge your collaboration productivity, engagement, efficiency, and fun with powerful Zoom Apps. You may find that all that Zoom fatigue is simply a thing of the past.