No. Zoom removed attention tracking in April 2020 amid privacy scrutiny and has not brought it back. The feature only showed hosts whether a participant had the Zoom window out of focus for more than 30 seconds — it never tracked eyes, faces or screen-looking.
The short answer
No. Zoom removed attention tracking in April 2020 and has not reinstated it.
What it was
The feature showed meeting hosts an indicator when a participant had the Zoom window out of focus for more than 30 seconds.
That is all it did. Worth stating plainly, because it is usually misremembered as something far more invasive:
- ❌ It did not track eye movement
- ❌ It did not analyse faces or expressions
- ❌ It did not know whether you were looking at the screen
- ❌ It did not see which other applications you had open
- ✅ It knew whether Zoom was the frontmost window
Why it went
Zoom retired it during the intense privacy scrutiny that came with its pandemic-era growth. The feature read as workplace surveillance, and the reputational cost far outweighed its usefulness.
It also produced genuinely poor data. The signal could not distinguish:
- Taking notes in another document → flagged inattentive
- Following the deck in a local copy → flagged inattentive
- Looking up something the presenter mentioned → flagged inattentive
- Sitting motionless thinking about lunch → not flagged
- Having left the room entirely → not flagged
The most engaged participant in a technical session frequently scored worst.
What hosts can see now
| Available | Not available |
|---|---|
| Attendance and join/leave times | Window focus |
| Total time in meeting | Other open applications |
| Chat messages sent | Whether you are looking at the screen |
| Poll responses | Eye position or gaze |
| Reactions used | Facial expression |
| Camera on or off | Anything passive at all |
| Q&A activity (webinars) |
Everything in the left column requires you to actively do something. There is no passive attention signal in Zoom.
If you actually need to measure engagement
Three options, covered in detail in Zoom attention tracking alternatives:
- Analyse the recording afterwards — retrospective, per-moment, and diagnostic rather than supervisory
- Instrument browser-delivered content directly — gives per-section resolution the Zoom feature never had
- Design interaction into the session — polls and prompts create observable evidence of attention
Tools that add facial analysis to video calls exist. In the EU, inferring emotions from biometric data in a workplace context has been prohibited since February 2025 under AI Act Article 5(1)(f), and guidance treats virtual workspaces and remote work as workplace. There is no consent route, and both vendor and deploying employer are in scope.
Frequently asked questions
Can Zoom hosts see if I'm looking at another window?
Can hosts tell if I'm paying attention at all?
Did Zoom ever track eye movement?
Are there third-party tools that add this to Zoom?
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