We know the feeling: the Zoom meeting that was supposed to be just a quick project update has been going on for 50 minutes, and it doesn’t feel like it’s ending soon. Time to fire up…the Zoom Escaper.
Created by developer and artist Sam Lavigne, Zoom Escaper is a web app that uses another app called VB-Cable to play a number of effects that could help you excuse yourself from a Zoom meeting.
These effects include the sounds you might get from a bad connection and echo, but also a few creative ones, such as “upset baby,” “dogs,” “urination,” or even “man weeping.”
“Urination” sounds nice and convincing.
Image: sam lavigne
“Sorry folks, there’s a man in my room and he appears to be crying, I’m gonna have to tune back into the meeting later,” — that’s the sort of excuse you could be making using this software.
Using the Zoom Escaper requires installing the VB-Cable software, and then tweaking a few settings. You won’t hear the actual interference Zoom Escaper is making during a call, but it will likely be unbearable to others.
To be clear, we don’t recommend any of this. Sabotaging Zoom meetings isn’t nice. Using untested software coming from a sole developer (though source code is available, which is good) also isn’t the best of ideas — especially since it requires another app to run. But hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do (seriously, don’t do it).