Misleading error for instant meetings on subsequent start_url lanuches

I’m creating meetings of type: 1 via the API with JWT authentication:

{
  topic: 'Meeting title goes here',
  type: 1,  // instant
  start_time: new Date('2020-04-15T01:23:45Z'),
  agenda: 'Never seen this displayed anywhere',
  settings: {
    auto_recording: 'cloud',
  },
  password: '',
};

The first time time the host clicks on the URL, they can start the meeting.

But if the host clicked the URL by mistake, say in an email on a different device, when they needed to start the meeting from their computer, they’ll get the following error:

You cannot start the meeting(XXX-XXX-XXX) because it is hosted by another user

  1. This error is misleading. We kept trying to figure out if the email was sent by mistake to other users etc. Can you please fix it to something closer to the actual error? E.g. “This meeting can only be started once. Please create another meeting.”

  2. Can you please describe in the API docs the differences between the four meeting types, from a developer perspective? For example, instant meetings generate a join_url with a pwd query parameter, as well as password fields, even though the request sent no password field, or password='', while scheduled meetings don’t.

Hey @Civility,

In order to fix this flow, or have the host switch devices, they would just have to end the meeting, and then restart it. The meeting can be started multiple times, as long as it is not already in progress.

As for your question about passwords, check your settings in your Zoom account to see if you have passwords enabled by default for your meetings.

Thanks,
Tommy