Lesson 4: Licences and Trial Mode
ZoomISO is free to download and explore, but it needs the right Zoom licence before it can actually join a meeting. This lesson explains the two ways to switch it on, what happens if you do not, and how to tell which state you are in.
Two ways to activate
ZoomISO activates automatically when you sign in with a Zoom account that qualifies in one of these two ways.
Option one: the Zoom Enhanced Media licence
ZoomISO is included in the Zoom Enhanced Media add-on, alongside the other apps from its maker, Liminal, at no extra cost. Once your organisation has bought an Enhanced Media licence, someone assigns it to a user. When that user signs in to ZoomISO, the app activates. As a bonus, this licence also improves picture quality and unlocks higher bandwidth, which the performance lesson covers.
Option two: a Webinars and Events Hub role
If your organisation uses Zoom Webinars and Events, it can create a “Hub” on the events.zoom.us website to manage who may use these features. Under the Team tab of the Hub page, the Hub Owner can add other people as Hub Hosts. The Hub Owner and any Hub Host can activate ZoomISO simply by signing in.
A useful freedom. Once you are activated by either route, ZoomISO can join any Meeting, Webinar, or Event that your signed-in user is allowed to join, even if that event lives on a different account or organisation. Your licence travels with you.
Trial Mode: what you get without a licence
If you do not sign in, or you sign in with an account that does not qualify, ZoomISO runs in Trial Mode. In Trial Mode the app is fully configurable. You can explore every screen, create outputs, and arrange your whole setup. The one thing you cannot do is join Zoom Meetings, Webinars, or Events.
This is genuinely useful. You can learn the entire app, practise your layout, and prepare a configuration in Trial Mode, then activate when you are ready to go live. Much of this course can be followed in Trial Mode.
How to tell which state you are in
The simplest check is the top right corner. When you are signed in, your profile picture appears there. If you are activated, ZoomISO will let you join meetings from the Meeting tab. If you are in Trial Mode, the join controls will be unavailable, which is the clearest sign that activation has not happened yet.
In short
Sign in with an account that has the Enhanced Media licence, or one that is a Hub Owner or Hub Host on Webinars and Events, and ZoomISO activates. Without that, it stays in Trial Mode: fully configurable, but unable to join meetings. Trial Mode is a fine place to learn.