Hands-free activation on macOS for Jamf deployment

Important: Hands-free activation using a local JSON file is no longer supported starting with Capture One 22 (15.1.0).

For Capture One Pro 16.3.2 and later

As of version 16.3.2, Capture One introduced a new hands-free activation feature for Enterprise and multi-user licenses. This allows individual users on shared macOS machines to launch Capture One without the need for manual sign-in or activation.

For setup instructions, refer to:
Managing Users and Multi User Access Management (Studio for Teams and Studio for Enterprise)

For Capture One 12.1.4 through 22 (15.0.x)

Capture One previously supported JSON-based hands-free activation — but only for Enterprise licenses.

To configure:

1. Create a JSON file at:
   ~/Library/Application Support/Capture One/HandsFreeActivateInfo.json
2. Populate the file with the following content:

3. When Capture One launches in a deactivated state, it reads this JSON and activates silently.

Important notes and limitations

• Enterprise licenses only:
  JSON activation doesn’t work with Pro or other license types. It will fail silently and show the standard activation window.
• License must be pre-associated:
  The license code must be activated at least once before deployment to associate it with a Capture One profile.
• Online connection is required:
  Devices must access activation.phaseone.com. Otherwise, the following error appears on launch:
  
• No effect if already activated:
  If Capture One is already activated, the JSON file will be ignored.
  To trigger reactivation:
  1. Manually deactivate Capture One
  2. Delete the JSON file
  3. Relaunch the app to activate via JSON