Amazon has announced the impending shutdown of its video conferencing service, Chime, marking an end to its efforts to compete with platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. The tech giant stopped accepting new accounts for Chime as of February 19, 2025, signaling a shift in strategy towards adopting Zoom as its official meeting application. Despite the cessation of new sign-ups, existing Chime customers will retain their ability to schedule and host meetings, manage users, and utilize features within the Amazon Chime administration console even after the service reaches its end of life.
Launched in 2017, Amazon Chime was designed with a focus on business usage. However, it struggled to gain significant traction outside of Amazon itself. As a result, the company confirmed on Wednesday that it will end support for Chime, including its Business Calling features, on February 20, 2026. This decision was first reported by Business Insider and has since been confirmed by Amazon.
Amazon Recommends Alternative Solutions
In light of Chime’s closure, Amazon is recommending alternative solutions for its customers. These include AWS Wickr, Salesforce’s Slack, and Zoom, which will now serve as Amazon’s primary meeting application. The transition to Zoom represents a strategic pivot for Amazon in aligning with a more widely adopted platform.
Despite the shutdown, existing Chime customers need not worry about immediate disruptions. The end of life for Chime will not affect current users’ ability to use the service’s existing functionalities. They can continue their operations seamlessly, without any interruptions to their scheduled meetings or administrative tasks.
Chime’s journey underscores the challenges faced by tech companies in capturing market share in the competitive field of video conferencing. Although it offered a robust set of features similar to other industry leaders, Chime ultimately could not establish a substantial user base beyond Amazon’s internal ecosystem.
Author’s Opinion
In my opinion, Amazon’s decision to shut down Chime and switch to Zoom reflects the company’s recognition of the dominance and wider adoption of Zoom in the video conferencing space. Despite offering strong features, Chime never gained the traction needed to compete against the big players in the market. This strategic pivot seems to be the right move for Amazon, especially as it moves to align with an already established and trusted platform.
