Webex Meetings Reviews

Desktop and Browser versions of Webex are poorer than before. The mobile version is the only saving grace, but when it comes to large meetings, WebexMeetings is unbearable. Please stop trying to be zoom in the wrong ways. The side by side view on desktop was already near perfection. There’s also the fact that you shouldn’t need to experience unusable meetings multiple times because WebexMeetings wants to work except for the meetings because the application compatibility is a secret. I know there is a forum listing what versions webex works with, but my question is why I can’t see my application’s specific version and what specs or updates it needs. Nonsense because even though the forum says it’s compatible with my laptop, it’s not compatible because the version is higher than shown. But I wouldn’t know that because the application was working fine except for the meeting. Either make it work or don’t make it work. You can’t have WebexMeetings not work then work later despite no changes made to the application. Terrible would not recommend.

The new UI used obscure icons, tucked away commonly used functionality underneath these icons, and then promoted elements that do not matter and let them get in the way of the presentation. For example, I see big blocks of empty space along the top of the screen, while each block only has the text of the attendee names. And those blocks clipped off the space for the main presentation. Not only that, once you minimize the attendee blocks, then there is a giant empty block overlaid ON TOP of the main presentation, and again that block only had the speaker’s name and nothing else. As if they were not enough interruptions, every time someone joins or leaves the meeting, the whole button row comes up on top of the presentation to show you who is joining or leaving. Seriously, who designed this UI? I understand those big attendee/speaker blocks are intended for video conferencing, but WebexMeetings should be smart enough to shrink these gigantic blocks when attendees are not showing anything. Last but not lease, the main presentation area is mission-critical. It should be left alone and not having any UI controls popping on top of it; otherwise, some important text/graphics in the presentation may be blocked from view, causing the attendees to miss out on that information.

I use WebexMeetings for hours at a time, daily, for work meetings. Prior to version 40.8.0, the mute button was either "all red" or "grey". It was very easy and obvious to see if you were muted or not, from up to a few feet away.

Well, today I received app version 40.8.0 - and they changed the mute button! Now, the difference between muted and unmuted is almost undiscernible - and very easy to mess up. The button for both states is 98% grey, with only a super faint red or green outline in it to distinguish the state. Awful.

WebexMeetings was perfect before. I'm a developer myself, so I understand the need to make continuous improvements and always having product owners trying to put their own spin on a product. But this change to the mute button is AWFUL. If there is one thing about WebexMeetings that users need - it's the ability to quickly, easily, and confidently distinguish if we are muted or not, without needing to hold the phone 10 inches in front of our face to tell. Eeek. Please revert the mute button changes. Not being able to confidently tell if I am muted or not takes WebexMeetings from 4 stars to 1 star for me - as it becomes a liability.

We have been using WebEx for a number of years. We wanted to upgrade our service so we contacted our sales rep. Instead of giving us a quote to upgrade our service, he generated a quote with our company name misspelled and with an incorrect address. We asked him to correct this and to date, he has not only not corrected it, he continually requests that we sign an agreement with this incorrect info and blames WebEx IT for the problem.

We contacted the sales number at the WebEx website and were informed that this guy created a fake company to generate the quote. We asked to simply have a quote for our company to move to their full training and event suite with a couple of add ons. For some reason, Cisco has complicated this sales process so much that you cannot simply purchase the services you need, when you need them. This new rep said he would check into whether he could even generate a quote for us to make a purchase since WebEx forbids it because of the way they assign accounts.

We even worked with their “life cycle” specialist who was helpful but did not have the ability to process the sale for us or to get us a sales rep who could help. At this point I am being left with no choice but to move our company over to Zoom simply because we cannot purchase the services we need from WebEx because of this ridiculous sales process.

Using brand new iPad Air. Joined Webex meeting via link with app already installed. Had used it once in past and WORKED FINE. Host asked me to share screen so I could see what she’s doing. Being new to this I asked how to as there are NO icons nor instructions how to do this. Just phone icons of who is in the meeting. She says click anywhere on screen to see icons. Like ai should just know this...dumb UI there. Next icons show with ZERO note of what they do. Had to click several of them to find where to share screen. Still very little advice of what you should do to simply VIEW ANOTHER PERSONS SCREEN. Took 5x to finally get to see other persons screen. Each time an annoyingoverlay pops up with some notification that the screen is being shared but NO WAY to get rid of it. So my hosts screen is completely blocked by this annoying overlay with no exit or X or minimize or any way to get rid of. I was about ready to throw iPad out the window at this point. Im still utterly irritated. I clicked just about everywhere before almost giving up when it finally disappeared. completely un user friendly and dumb icons that you have to just know to click screen randomly to get them to pop up. Then they have NO indication of what they are for or any help to accomplish a simple task. Two stars and thats being generous only because it finally worked on 5th try and worked fine the fist time...

First, pretty terrible experience with webex as a whole. While the 1) no app for Linux distributions, 2) trying to join meeting on iPad through Safari browser keeps directing me to some .dmg file, 3) audio issues with webex are not issues with this particular app, they still be pointed out.

O/W using WebexMeetings alone wouldn’t let me join the meeting, so used a provided browser link, which led me to either an option to install a dmg—on my iPad (still baffled by this)—, join meeting through app, or join meeting through browser. When joining through app, the video feed was in a tiny little screen over a ton of unused space, vs through the browser, where I could resize the video feed to full screen. Maybe I could go through documentation, but other available web-conferencing programs work right out the box so I will only be using webex begrudgingly when google meets or other options are unavailable, and am uninstalling WebexMeetings since it seems to be worse than just running webex through the browser.

In reality, most of the core functionality of WebexMeetings is fine. It doesn’t crash very often, and it gets the job done. The reason for the two-star review is that we are constantly fighting with bugs. New ones seem to come up in every release, And there have been some big ones that persisted for several months and several updates before they were finally fixed. With this latest release, we have a feature where all of the meeting control buttons—for example the one that allows you to leave the meeting—sometimes disappear from the UI.

Another particularly annoying issue is that, although WebexMeetings purports to support touch ID and Face ID, it never seems to use them. I am periodically asked to manually reenter my password, usually while driving at high speeds and attempting to join a customer meeting. This has been true ever since they claimed to introduce touch ID support. After at least a couple of years of pretending to support these features, I have never once been prompted for touch ID or face ID by Webex.

Before adding new features, like the ability to share files from our phones, which most of us will never use, it would be appreciated if the dev team would focus on some core functionality issues that would make WebexMeetings more usable for everyone.

Today was my first experience with your App. ALL of my attendees had trouble getting in; some NEVER got in. I was sent all the login info via email, circulated it to everybody, and we ALL had issues, including myself, trying to log in. My meeting was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. CDT, and I attempted to log in at 9:30. It told me, “this meeting has not started yet.” I did not actually get in until 9:45. I had things and people scheduled to do things during that down time. Eventually I got in, as did SOME of my attendees.

On a more positive note, the audio was clear, video was good. Screen sharing was good, too. And it is relatively easy to set up a meeting. Once set up, I received the necessary login info soon after.

I hope to get feedback from you as to why we had such a hard time logging on. The meeting got done, but there was so much “down time” trying to connect. At the end of the day, yes, I would use Webex again, BUT I HAVE to get to the bottom of the login issue! I CANNOT do that again. So much time wasted.

Once signed in and setup as desired, the mobile app is functional and useful, but the developers need to remember the primary use case of the mobile app (from my perspective at least) is to be able to join meetings while on the move (such as when driving to the office, etc.). When at the desk, I'll use the desktop/browser interface. The mobile app needs to be better optimized to not constantly require re-authentication and setting up. Security is important but as always needs to be designed in conjunction with usability. With the desktop interface, I am never/rarely re-prompted for my credentials because I saved them in my browser's password manager. With the mobile app, there is no such option. Fortunately, WebexMeetings recently gained support for touchID, which improved usability immensely. However even with that improvement, I am forced to re-enter my account ID and phone number and my desired settings every time WebexMeetings is updated, which seems to be every few weeks. Very inconvenient since that usually happens while I'm on the road and trying to join a meeting right away.

The video and audio quality are good, and it’s easy enough to share different types of content. It’s also pretty easy to customize settings such as beep on entry/exit, automate, etc. The reason it only gets two stars is that it’s not at all user friendly for guests of the meeting. As the host, you can learn the quirks over time and live with them, but when you’re inviting outside guests to a meeting that are not familiar with webex, it’s as if they need to be an IT engineer to figure out how to log in correctly. I either host or am a support person for around 5 small webex presentations each week with executives outside my organization. I can say that more than 50% of those meetings begin with technical difficulties where at least one outside person can’t figure out how to join correctly. If it happened once or twice, I would say it’s their fault, but this happens at least 3 times per week, and sometimes with users that should be well-versed in technology.

WebexMeetings has higher visual quality than facetime and Zoom in my opinion....however, I’ve had difficulties connecting with the audio each time I’ve followed my registration email link invite. I solved the problem by reapplying for WebexMeetings one time and waiting a substantial amt of time to finally connect and this time I resorted to calling the phone number to hear the audio. Had to put the phone on speaker, it died, then luckily was able to switch fairly quickly to another one to continue.... Went to app support, but that didn't help...that’s why I asked if this presentation would be replayed at another time. I would like to catch up and fill in the blanks. Technology!!!
Re: a replay, it would be nice to be able to see
presentations at another time, rather than at a specific scheduled time if possible. Sometimes scheduled live times don’t work out for the listeners to engage with.
Thnx for this opportunity to review...the content delivery and presenter/host did a fine and professional job. Thank you.

I had no experience with online meeting apps before COVID-19 and its dislocations. I now use WebEx to meet one-on-one with students, and it works well enough, usually. However, because of the stand I use to support my iPad, its controls are hard to get to when I am hosting my meetings. Screen sharing is seriously clunky and counterintuitive. I had planned to use WebEx on an ancient MacBook Pro, which on paper appeared to have suitable memory and an adequate operating system. However, when I first tried to join a meeting, odd things for which I was unprepared flashed up on the screen saying I needed to install a plug-in, even though I had already installed the WebEx app successfully on the machine. I never was able to join that meeting. I later found some guidance on the WebEx site explaining the problem, although it still does not work smoothly on my laptop. I am relying on the tablet now, even though it drains the battery power quickly. But it’s gotta be better than Zoom, right?

Missing participant response tools like raising your hand to get moderators attention. Mute and unmute does not always work. I understand moderator can override the mute function but in an interactive session sometimes there is no way to get the attention of anyone except by turning on video and waving madly until someone notices you or holding up a sign. Very frustrating. Really would like to see the hand raising ability and even the coffee break icon.
Ability to log on is very good. Just need to be familiar with the initial set up when logging in. Specifically you need to answer if you are going to get your audio from your cell or through the internet. Use my first generation iPad Pro on weekly webinars and it works great and the ability to attend my webinars from anywhere is fabulous. Many times I am logged on in the early morning hours and use my Bluetooth apple AirPods and it makes life easier while lying comfortably in bed. Will rate it 4-5 when additional basic features of desktop version is implemented.

On iPhone 6:IOS 10.3 because of IOS11.x power management fears. IOS10 is power management is freaky bad enough.

Pros: Webex app provides easy direct audio over data or call-me-back feature when data is worse than cell audio. Auto-mute upon connection is an excellent feature! Chat is usable, if a little clunky to reach at 2 click-levels from slides both directions.

Cons: The audio seems like it requires a better data connection than it used to. I remember decent communication on Airplane WiFi a couple years ago. Now that all the airlines are advertising "faster" data, I rarely can hear/talk over Webex.

It would be nice if there was a minimal chat interface that's usable while watching the slides. Highly technical presentations generate a lot of questions (submitted via chat) and require reading slides for details. Too much material is missed in the time it takes to type a question in chat.

I also don't see the hand raise and other basic tools that should be easy to implement.
Re-authentication while driving is a serious PITA! Provide a grace period when re-auth can be skipped or build a hook that notices my password manager and prompts to open it like a couple other apps do. Or maybe just program it to delay re-auth until I'm NOT joining a meeting at the last minute. Perhaps only prompt when more than five minutes early or as the meeting is closing. Seriously, I wouldn't be using WebexMeetings if I had time to boot the laptop.

Like most, we have seen a dramatic uptick in the use of WebEx and other virtual meeting tools. One thing I have now seen on several platforms is my organization support many different tools and I see the same recurring problem that for Webex calls implemented witin my agency, the links and calls work well. However, when someone from outside my agency sends me a Webex link for a call, they often have connection issues.

It may be how Outlook handles the links inside group calls work seamlessly when you select the Join Call option, but for external calls, the link asks you to install Webx which is already installed. Then there are sometime problems with establishing the call (mostly connecting and audio).

This is occuring more on desk/lap-top systems so I am participating via my iPhone now which seems to avoid the problem of the computer not knowing webex is already installed on it.

WebexMeetings is a bit complicated to get started, not intuitive, guess Apple spoiled me. Once started it was great, even provided virtual background options by clearly visible invitation. Until this, I thought I was technologically competent. Getting started with this in order to join a work meeting made me feel as if I was falling off the learning curve. However in fairness as I think about it, I’m not certain how much was WebexMeetings vs the instructions for joining the meeting that had tiered participants.
Albeit I am of a certain age, I’ve utilized computers & various apps since 1987, including running my own business for 20 yrs with computer networks and all. This was largely before the iPhone and my conversion to Apple products.

Webex works, but it Cisco seems to have stopped developing it years ago.

What is missing:
- If you use Webex in Split View or with another app as a floating window, your video image will freeze. This should not be the case, as users will often want to open Webex alongside another app
- Webex should adopt the Picture in Picture feature from iOS 9, so users can open another app (say note taking or reference app) while showing the video of the meeting floating in PiP over WebexMeetings
- Improves chat function: if someone sends a message, it is not easy to open it. It should trigger an iOS wide notification, so even if Webex is not on the foreground, you get notified if a message comes in through Webex.
- for presenting Office docs (Word, PowerPoint) WebexMeetings needs have better Office document rendering, rather than the simplified iOS rendering of Office documents, which adequate for quick views, but not for professional presentations. It could convert to PDF on the fly for better rendering.
- It should adopt more desktop features such as: 1) setting up polls; 2) allow users to choose to open the meeting room 15 or 30 minutes before the meeting starts, so that invited meeting participants can enter before the meeting host logs in. This can be done on the desktop and is needed on the iOS app

Most recent use included about 30 people around the USA, using a PowerPoint presentation to discuss a scientific project. Seeing people as they spoke was not a priority. The most challenging aspect was getting participants to mute their phones and microphones to eliminate background noise and feedback. Also, when asking questions and during discussions, effectively minimizing speaking over each other. I suggest WebexMeetings provide (prominently) so best practices at the top of the meeting.

Last year I took a training program that did use images of speakers, slide presentations, etc. Webex was the platform used every two weeks over approximately 6 months, I think about 25-30 participants. Work in between meetings included libraries of info etc. I think we stretched the capabilities of the program, and it was excellent. My experience is the users can make or break it. So again, tutorial and best practices would be helpful.

With everything going on due to COVID I have lost my treatment groups and my meetings that I had in person they were what helped me replace my time I used to use to get high and they would help me process things in my life and living clean and sober. WebexMeetings has made it possible to have a one on one session with my counselor and be able to get that connection you can’t get over a phone call I am able to see her and have eye contact and feel as though she is fully present in our conversation. WebexMeetings did not glitch out at all and it was a very easy process to get signed up and to figure out how to get in the video with my counselor. The only thing I did not like was that I could not figure out how to flip my camera around to where I could show what I was looking at instead of the camera being on my face I am not sure if it is even possible to do that with WebexMeetings and if it is I feel that it needs to be more easily accessible. Overall this is a great app and I love it!

This is a great app for the iPhone. I’ve never experienced any issues related to WebexMeetings . Most audio issues I’ve experienced are caused from users: bad microphone, not talking close enough to microphone, not muting themselves when dialing in, etc. I attend all of my WebEx meetings exclusively on iPhone app now so that I can keep working separately on desktop during meetings.

I especially love that there is an Apple Watch app; when you’re in a meeting, the Watch app pops up and is basically just a large mute/unmute button. Genius! Something Apple should adapt for their normal phone functionality.

If I were to ask for an additional feature, it would be to integrate with the iPhone phone app. When I’m on a meeting with Microsoft Teams, I get the same lock screen as I would if I were in a phone call, with a mute button, video button (instead of FaceTime), etc. I take a lot of my calls while outside on walks with my dogs during the COVID-19 shut down, so it would be nice to be able to quickly mute/unmute myself without unlocking my phone (the Watch app isn’t always responsive).

Very often after joining a webex (called in with audio over internet) after connecting to CarPlay the audio is lost (sometimes heard for a fraction of a second but then unavailable/dead quiet) and one has to select “disconnect audio” in WebexMeetings and then reconnect audio via internet again; and maybe it will work.
Then when audio sometimes works and one turns off the car and unplugs the phone (with working audio over internet) the audio from the now no longer USB connected phone will also cut out and one has to disconnect the audio and reconnect. TERRIBLE!!!!! I have an iPhone SE with latest iOS (even previous iOS had same issue).
These issues started right when the webex app was started to have an interface on the car screen. Use that info to fault search and please fix immediately!! I dependent on WebexMeetings to work for my work in a major car OEM

So, I am using all kinds of conf call apps - zoom, Webex, Skype goto, etc etc... - Webex is he worst.

Why? Primarily because of the separate/disconnected audio hookup, and because of the different way it works on iPad vs iPhone. On the iPhone, you have to call in or it will call you, which means now you’re call options are gone (yeah, multitasking). On the ipad, it can offer direct audio integration (looks like its a customizable feature for the organizing organization). But it’s getting worse: if you are in the meeting with the separate audio, and the audio drops, more often than not, the system does not understand when you’re dialing back in again. Accordingly, it then doesn’t allow you to mute or unmetered, you not being in audio of the meeting. So you have to.... go all the way out of both audio and conference. Unacceptable!!! Keep in mind there are conference calls where the system loudly announces you leaving or entering... unprofessional!!!

I don’t understand why WebexMeetings violates so many iOS conventions. For example:
* You cannot turn the volume down to zero. So if you want to temporarily stop the audio, you hit the volume button down lots of times, but WebEx decides it’s better than you and doesn’t let you do this.
* For some reason instead of a normal approach to turn speakerphone on and off it tries to be clever and use the phone sensor to detect if you are holding it to your ear. But this means the screen goes blank and it disables the phone buttons when you are moving your hand near the top of the phone. This never happens on the iPhone’s regular phone app, where that sensor is not used in speakerphone mode

There are many other examples of surprising UI choices that are inconsistent. There is a reason there are conventions, and WebEx just walks all over them...

This is my meeting app of choice (over Skype, GoToMeeting etc.) and it’s generally great for global use, however lately it seems to push a massive mandatory update right at the time of the meeting, causing delays to get started. If I’m the client, I’m late, if I’m the host, I’ve left people hanging. Embarrassing on several occasions.
Even starting 5 minutes early (my default now by necessity) is no guarantee that I won’t be hung by a long update on my limited bandwidth. I can use it twice in a morning then the third use in the day pushes a large update so there’s no predicting it. An option to proceed without the latest greatest would be a welcome alternative to such delays - at the end of the day, my priority is the meeting happening over the version I’m using.
My experience is in Mac app, iPad, but issue is reported by my PC using colleagues as well. Overall, I’m still favorable, would be great if this could be addressed.

I use WebEx and Zoom on a daily basis. There are things about both that I like and dislike. Reason I only gave WebEx three stars is once I am in a WebEx, I frequently need to hop to my notes or another app while on the call. Doing this causes WebEx to disconnect me from the meeting but I can still participate in the audio. This is fine but when I do need to go back to the WebEx to see what is being shared, it takes a really long time for WebEx to connect me back in. This is ridiculous and WebEx should not be logging me out of the meeting, at least not after one minute, which I have timed. Developers, please fix this!!! One other issue I have with WebEx is the constant UI changes. Please find one and stick with it. Having to play hide and seek with icons every time is annoying.

Maybe the bugs that other people are reporting have been fixed since July but I have been using WebexMeetings for about two months now and have experience no problems whatsoever. It is convenient to be able to start a meeting from my car and then flip over to my desktop. The only thing that I noticed is that I keep getting a message that if I don’t return to the meeting that I will be removed from the meeting when I am the moderator. As we all know we have our screens on our phones timed for 2 to 5 minutes so then perhaps WebexMeetings thinks that you’re done when you’re in fact not done. That is the only thing that I have seen so far otherwise it’s a great app.

I’m very please with Cisco’s WebEx Meetings hosted service and WebexMeetings works well with it. WebexMeetings itself is stable and presents shared content surprisingly well. Unfortunately, Cisco keeps changing the UI in disappointing ways while leaving the few things that could use improvement alone. Seems like each update WebexMeetings gets a little more cumbersome.

I’m not sure if competition is heating up in this space and Cisco wants existing users aware of all the features, but it feels like the design philosophy has taken on a grocery store mentality, “put the milk all the way in the back so people have to see everything they might like on their way to what’s important.” In the midst of a busy day the changes leave me a little annoyed.

Recent past, I see multiple continuous updates breaking one or the other features. Please reduce unnecessary update frequency. With the recent update on my laptop audio is half broken (I can hear but can’t speak). Earlier this happened - you have fixed it - again broken. Now, I’ve to connect on laptop for screen share and mobile for audio (you are doubling the load unnecessarily). Ruling our the headset issue - tried multiple headsets and laptop audio.

Not only this - many items regress. So please be careful with your continuous updates. Stay with a stable release (FYI - I’ve been using webex for 15 years, so not giving a bad rating - that doesn’t mean current version is awesome).

I like WebexMeetings due to convenience of my web meetings so I can stay at home. I have four little ones so this feature is a super necessity in my life. However I wish that WebexMeetings could haves "raise hand" button to allow people to not interrupt if it's a call in/demo video rather than a face to face meeting. It is hard to not hear over voicing from everyone trying to ask a question. It will state who is "user 1 is speaking" but if there is more than two or three users it doesn't show and then we all try and speak at the same time. So having a button to click to allow the meeting coordinator(s) to let one in at a time could possibly be helpful. Otherwise a multiplayer view option should be available if we use a large tablet or laptop. I like how I can use my small iphone 7 to use this on the go though. 👍🏻