Description
We have a beta feature where we turn on registration for our clients’ meetings, so that we can get contact information into zoom which can then be surfaced by the API. We do this by looking for upcoming scheduled meetings using the zoom API, and then flipping the registration flag on.
When the host clicks on the link to the meeting from their calendar, it first goes to the web browser to authenticate them. If they are not already logged in to the zoom UI in the web browser, it takes them to the registration page. If they click register from the registration message, it blocks them with an error message: “Host cannot register”, and doesn’t provide any workaround. This is the first bug - since they are clicking on the link from their own calendar, it shouldn’t take them to registration. Arguably, users shouldn’t even need to be signed into the web browser in order for the initial link to work.
We encourage our users to sign into the web UI with “remember me” checked, to work around this. The problem is that some subset of our users get logged out after around 24 hours, even with “remember me” checked. That means that they get blocked when trying to sign into their meetings, using the calendar link. This is the second bug.
Error
Bug 1) Hosts who click on the meeting link from their own calendar, when meeting is required, get bumped to the registration page when they are not logged into the browser. Registration page will not admit them to the meeting.
Bug 2) Subset of users get logged out from web browser, even if they have “remember me” checked.
Which App Type (OAuth / Chatbot / JWT / Webhook)?
OAuth
Thank you for reaching out to the Zoom Developer Forum. I’m happy to help here, I just have a couple of questions to get started:
How are these calendar events being created? Is this through a Zoom calendar integration, the Zoom for GSuite integration or something else?
Do all these users have the same calendar application? If so, what?
Please confirm that they don’t have a setting enabled that would clear cache/cookies on browser close or at the end of the day. When it comes to this issue, I recommend reaching out to our Customer Support Team as they’ll be able to assist you directly.
On the first question, I asked and got this response: “Calendar event being created by first creating a meeting on the Outlook calendar then clicking the button to add the zoom meeting details automatically using the zoom Outlook integration”.
On the second question, I’ll open a case with the support team. These users don’t have anything special installed to clear cookies, and, indeed, our auto-login (plus, e.g., outlook’s) remains active even though zoom’s isn’t.
From what I understand, this is expected behavior. The join URL in the calendar event is expected to be shared with others so it can’t be a start_url or a unique join_url.
When registration is required, and a unique join_url isn’t used, Zoom isn’t able to confirm if the current user is registered or not so it prompts them to register for the meeting prior to opening the Zoom app.
Let me know if that helps explain the behavior you’re seeing.
Thanks Max, that certainly explains it. The mystery of the users (from multiple different organizations) sometimes being logged out in the web browser isn’t yet explained on the support ticket though - is it possible that this url is somehow triggering them to be logged out, since the registration page wants fresh details from them?
And, since there is this workflow issue, can the “Host cannot register” error be smartened up to take the host to authentication rather than just block them from joining through that route? Expecting users to realize that they need to click over to the app and launch from there instead requires a couple mental leaps that may not be easy to come by if you appear to be blocked from your meeting.
That’s possible but I think It’s unlikely that’s the cause here. I haven’t seen that behavior in the past and Zoom should make any changes to the authentication state when joining a registration page.
I definitely agree with that, I think the flow could be improved here. This functionality starts to get outside the scope of Developer Support though, unfortunately.
From here, there are a couple resources.
First, continue working with our Customer Support Team. You’re in good hands with them and they should be able to get to the bottom of the issue with users being logged out. If you’re using SSO, you might want to check that there aren’t any helpful configuration changes that could be made to your IDP/SSO system.
Additionally, you can reach out to them with your recommendation in regard to how the registration flow should work or you can submit your feedback to our Feedback Form.
