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:
- Create a JSON file at:
~/Library/Application Support/Capture One/HandsFreeActivateInfo.json
- Populate the file with the following content:
{
"firstName" : "Ben",
"lastName" : "Smith",
"email" : "bensmith@xyzzy.com",
"country" : "United States",
"code" : "AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD"
}
"firstName" : "Ben",
"lastName" : "Smith",
"email" : "bensmith@xyzzy.com",
"country" : "United States",
"code" : "AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD"
}
- 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 accessactivation.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:- Manually deactivate Capture One
- Delete the JSON file
- Relaunch the app to activate via JSON