Zoom: Time Limit on Meetings

Environment

U-M Zoom

Issue

How long can my meeting last in U-M Zoom? Are there any time limits before it's forced to end?

Resolution

Active and idle meetings will time out if the following conditions are met:

Meetings will time out after 30 HOURS if there is:

• One host; no participants - Only the host is in the meeting, and no participants ever join.
• One host; any number of participants - The host and any number of participants stay in the meeting. The time caps at 30 hours.
• No host; any number of participants - Participants can join the meeting before the host, the host never joins the meeting, and there is at least one participant in the meeting.

Meetings will time out after 40 MINUTES if:

• One host and one or more participants joined. The host or participant(s) leave, and only one person remains in the meeting. The meeting will end after 40 minutes if no one else joins.
• The host is not a U-M Zoom account, but a free consumer Zoom account, and the meeting was created outside the U-M Zoom domain (i.e., external). Meetings created and hosted by external, free Zoom accounts are limited to 40 minutes.
  • If you are a U-M affiliate who is eligible for a U-M Zoom account and using a personal (external) account with your @umich.edu email address, refer to Zoom: Migrate a Personal Account to a U-M Account for more information.

On app versions 6.6.5 (released 10/22/25) or later, meetings will time out after 55 MINUTES if there is:

No activity, including recording, live streaming, or additional participants joining, is detected after 55 minutes; a five-minute inactivity timer will appear in a pop-up.

• You can choose to extend the meeting, end it immediately, or deactivate the inactivity timer for ALL future meetings entirely.
  • If you do not respond to the pop-up within 5 minutes, your meeting will end automatically.
• You can manually turn the inactivity timer on or off in the Zoom Workplace desktop app:
  • Click your profile picture > Settings > Meetings & webinars > Advanced > Advanced meeting > toggle the Do not automatically end meetings after inactivity setting on or off.
• Note that although you can turn off the inactivity timer, the meeting will still conclude after 30 hours, as that is the maximum meeting length Zoom offers.

Additional Information

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.