Fathom for Zoom: Setup, Bot vs Bot-Free, Auto-Record and Fixes

To use Fathom on Zoom, install the Fathom desktop app, connect your Google or Outlook calendar, connect your Zoom account, then pick how Fathom listens: the visible Fathom Notetaker bot, or bot-free capture from the Mac app (beta). Set Auto-record so scheduled Zoom calls get captured, and use Capture Now or Add to Meeting for a call that is already running. The bot cannot join Zoom meetings over 250 attendees, meetings that require registration, or Zoom Webinars; bot-free Zoom capture is exempt only from the 250-attendee and registration limits, and Zoom Webinars are unsupported on both routes. Every plan, Free included, records Zoom. Since March 2026, users still on the older app must connect Zoom before Fathom can join Zoom calls at all.^[1] The rest of this guide covers each stage and its traps.

Connect Zoom through the desktop app first

Fathom offers two routes into Zoom, and most people should take the first. The desktop app works with free and paid Zoom accounts, and it carries the fuller in-meeting feature set, including custom highlights and bookmarks. The separate Fathom Zoom app comes from the Zoom App Marketplace. It works only when you are the meeting host on a paid Zoom account, has fewer in-meeting features, and may need a Zoom admin to pre-approve it before you can install it. If your company locks down Marketplace apps, ask IT early.

Whichever route you take, Fathom wants your Zoom account linked. On the new bot-free version, Zoom capture works without that link, but choosing Bot for a Zoom meeting prompts you to connect. Linking also lets Fathom auto-record unscheduled Zoom meetings. One rule surprises shared offices: a Zoom account can connect to only one Fathom account, so a team login used by several people cannot be connected. If your settings show Zoom as Partially Enabled, the account has not been fully connected to Fathom.^[2] The fix is to finish the connection rather than start over. Until you do, expect missed impromptu calls on the older app.

Bot or bot-free on a Zoom call

The bot runs on every plan and is the only way to record Zoom on Windows. It joins as a participant, captures full video, audio and a searchable transcript, and can join from a browser. It also needs three Zoom settings on the meeting side. Turn the Waiting Room off. Turn on the option that lets removed participants rejoin. Give each meeting a unique Meeting ID instead of your Personal Meeting ID (PMI).^[3] Fathom says the bot works best with all three in place.

Bot-free capture runs inside Fathom 3.0 on a Mac. You need macOS 14.2 or newer, the latest desktop app, a place in the phased rollout and a meeting language among the 20 that version supports.

On the Mac you choose one of four capture modes per meeting from the app tray:

• Transcript Only: bot-free, keeps a transcript and AI summary, saves no recording.
• Audio Only: bot-free, audio stored locally, no video.
• Audio and Video: sends the bot for full capture.
• Capture Off: nothing for that meeting.

Bot-free video sits outside that standard list. It is still a limited beta that Fathom opens to more users over time, and Fathom switched on botless video recording for Zoom for all users on its beta in June 2026. If your account has it, join from the Zoom desktop client; a browser tab will not do.

The choice matters most for big rooms. A 400-person all-hands is out of the bot's reach, but a bot-free mode can still produce notes. For how those transcripts and summaries behave afterward, see our Fathom transcription guide.

Set Auto-record, then catch calls already running

Auto-record decides which calendar meetings Fathom joins on its own. The options are All Meetings, External Meetings, Internal Meetings and No Meetings; with No Meetings, you start every recording yourself. Fathom joins a calendar event only when it has at least one attendee and a Zoom link, and it reads only your primary connected calendar. Booking tools matter here. A Calendly invite with default settings can look like an impromptu meeting to Fathom.

On team plans, admins can go further. They set Auto-capture to On, Off or Optional separately for External, Internal and Unscheduled meetings, at organization and team level. Users can still capture by hand when a category is Off. On the Mac app, Settings also has its own switch for auto-capturing unscheduled Zoom meetings.

When a call is already underway, the route depends on your version. The bot-free app starts capture with Capture Now. The previous version uses Add to Meeting: paste the Zoom link, and Fathom sends the bot in. Two physical limits apply either way. Fathom joins only one meeting at a time, and it records a Zoom call only while you are also on it. It cannot be left behind to record alone. On an iPhone, the Fathom app can send the bot to a scheduled Zoom call, and it joins when you do.

What everyone else on the Zoom call sees

What attendees see depends on how Fathom is capturing. With the bot, attendees see a participant named after you, by default your name followed by Fathom Notetaker. Fathom records Zoom through Zoom Live Stream, which is not streamed anywhere public; it captures in Gallery mode and triggers Zoom's recording notice for each attendee, along with the spoken recording-in-progress message, unless that Zoom setting is off. If the host shares a screen in gallery view, only the speaker and the shared screen are captured.

Premium adds two cosmetic controls: a custom bot name and the option to hide the in-meeting banner. Premium costs $16 per user per month billed annually, or $20 per user per month billed monthly. Hiding the banner does not hide the bot from the participant list. On team plans, admins can set an organization-wide bot name built from each user's first or full name.

Zoom also gives Fathom a chat channel that Meet and Teams lack. The bot owner receives a chat message and can reply leave to remove Fathom, and any participant can type summary to get the notes after the call. That chat feature needs Zoom's Enhanced Recording turned off and may not be switched on for every account.

Consent emails are narrower than many expect. With the bot, Fathom emails a consent request only for an external meeting where you are the host and there is exactly one guest, 24 hours ahead. On bot-free, emails go out only for external, scheduled meetings with Auto Request Recording Consent on and host privileges.^[4] Same-day and impromptu calls get none. A decline turns off auto-record for that call; silence does not. Bot-free meetings show no bot; instead Fathom posts a consent message in the Zoom chat when Recording Notice is on, and team admins can enforce it. With Recording Notice off, Fathom posts no chat message, so tell people yourself. Fathom's Terms leave consent with you.

Hosting a Zoom call versus joining someone else's

Being the host widens your options. The Fathom Zoom app works only for hosts on paid Zoom accounts, and the bot-based consent email goes out only when you host. As a guest on another company's Zoom, you depend on their settings. A Waiting Room they leave on, a registration page or a PMI can each keep the bot out, and their host can remove it at any time. On bot-free capture, Zoom without host privileges means no consent email at all, so say out loud that you are taking notes.

On Fathom's Team plans and up, the Single Bot per Meeting setting adds one more twist. It stops several Fathom notetakers from the same domain from recording one call; whichever bot is admitted and starts recording wins. If a colleague's bot got in first, theirs is the one that records the call.

When Fathom misses a Zoom call

Most misses trace to a short list of causes. Fathom's Add to Meeting cannot get in when the call is a Zoom Webinar, needs registration, has more than 250 participants, has kicked the bot or is blocked by IT, or when your team's bot limit is reached. Work through these checks in order:

1. Confirm the calendar event has an attendee and a Zoom link, on your primary calendar.
2. Check Auto-record: No Meetings or an Off category means manual starts only.
3. For the bot, recheck the Waiting Room, rejoin and Meeting ID settings above.
4. On a Mac, grant Screen and System Audio Recording plus the separate System Audio Recording Only permission, and make sure Zoom is not using ZoomAudioDevice as its microphone.
5. If Zoom still shows Partially Enabled, finish connecting it.

A call that was neither auto-captured nor started by hand produces no transcript. Neither does a recording with no audio. If Fathom keeps grabbing Zoom calls after you uninstalled its Zoom app, update or reinstall Zoom. To keep Fathom out of a single meeting or stop it for good, follow how to remove Fathom. Running the same setup on other platforms? Our Google Meet and Teams guide covers their own rules.

The bottom line

Fathom on Zoom comes down to three decisions: connect your Zoom account fully, pick bot or bot-free per meeting, and set Auto-record so you are not adding calls by hand. The bot is simple and works from a browser or Windows, but it needs an open door: no Waiting Room, a unique Meeting ID, no more than 250 attendees and no registration. Bot-free capture on a Mac (beta, macOS 14.2+, phased rollout) covers the large and registration-only Zoom calls the bot cannot enter; Zoom Webinars are unsupported on both routes. Free handles all of it; pay for Premium only if a custom bot name or a hidden banner matters to you.