Automating Zoom Launch on Shabbat

For someone who would prefer to minimize or eliminate the need to directly manipulate technology, a technical solution is required. The Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards passed a teshuvah (legal decision) called “Streaming Services on Shabbat and Yom Tov” addressing halakhic issues around holding religious services on the Sabbath and holidays. Appendix III provides guidance for automatically signing into and out of a Zoom meeting. Please keep in mind that the technology is constantly changing, so this and/or other solutions may not work in the future.

A. Turn off automatic sleep mode, so that you don’t have to wake it up or re-enter password.

1. Make sure it is plugged into power.

2. For iPhone/iPad, in settings, under display and brightness, set auto-lock to never.

3. For PC see https://www.help.k12.com/s/article/How-to-Disable-a-Screensaver

4. For Mac, in Control Panel, under “Desktop and Screen Saver,” change “Start After” to "Never."

B. It is possible to set a Windows or MacOS computer to automatically log on to a website or a zoom call at a specific time. One solution is as follows:

1. Make sure you are using the Chrome browser.

2. Download a Chrome Extension called “Tab Schedule” (you will be warned as to whether you trust this extension). https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tab-schedule/kegpdidbhjabdmbbonhembegjpinjegl?hl=en

3. In Chrome, open the extensions tab (by selecting from “Window” menu or going to chrome://extensions/)

4. In the Tab Schedule sections, click on “Details”

5. On the next screen, click on “Extension options”. You will now be able to enter the Web address of the site you want the computer to turn on at a specific time, and the date and time on which you want it to activate. This will work for many kinds of one way streams, though it is hit or miss with Facebook live.

This method will also work for Zoom, with several additional steps.

1. Enable the Zoom app, and log in on your account (free account ok for participants as long as the Zoom host has a paid account)

2. You need to allow Chrome to automatically launch zoom (This is the hacking part! If you skip this part you will have to click a checkbox each time!

a. On a MacOS computer

i. Open the “Terminal” app (Under applications/Utilities)

ii. Paste the following into the terminal app:

defaults write com.google.Chrome ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox -bool true

iii. Restart Chrome.

b. On a PC

i. Download the file at

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dbIIOTcFx0XXnI06LIy3QVn5SjdYEpWf

ii. Click on it (this will provoke some scary warning messages about editing your windows registry. Live on the edge and go ahead)

iii. Reboot your computer

3. Open Chrome. On the next screen, click on “Extension options”. You will now be able to enter the “Zoom address” from the invitation. If the room has a password, which it should, you will need the long form that encodes the password as well: for example. https://zoom.us/j/5555555555?pwd=S0lnb2VqsfJqdFhtWksdfxeXV5L0hTdz09, and click “Add URL”

4. You will then have a field where you can add a day and time. Choose the day of the week and the time (Saturday, 9:00 AM), and hit the plus sign.

5. You can repeat this process for multiple zoom rooms and multiple dates for each one.

6. The first time you do it, you will get a pop up asking if you should always open this type of link in another program. Check the box and say yes, and then you will not see this box in the future (this is what all the terminal and registry stuff was about).

C. Stopping the stream

1. Ideally, the device would be in a room that could be closed off .

2. One low tech solution is simply physically blocking the device when not in use. If one is using a headset, at times when one does not wish to engage, one could put it in a drawer or cover it with something that muffles the sound, and cover the camera.

3. The computer can be programmed to “go to sleep” at a particular time.

a. On a MacOs machine: Under System Preferences, select “Energy Saver”. Click “Schedule” and set the computer to “sleep” at a particular date and time. The computer will go to sleep automatically 10 minutes after the time selected. (note, the same feature can also be used to wake the computer).

b. There are several ways to schedule sleep/wake on a Windows machine. Here are two:

https://windowsloop.com/schedule-windows-to-sleep-at-specific-time/

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/schedule-wake-sleep-windows-automatically/