Watermark settings (for individuals)

The watermark overlays a small “transcribing” indicator on your camera image. It works in any meeting app where you can choose the camera — Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and others such as Slack. It appears only while transcription is running and disappears when you stop. Setting it up has two stages: a one-off setup (installing the camera) and selecting the camera in each meeting app.

FigureVideo: the watermark displayed on a video feed

Your camera image during a meeting, with a badge overlaid in the corner showing transcription is in progress, disappearing when transcription stops.

#1. Start setup

Where you start differs depending on whether you are enabling it yourself or your organisation requires it. Both reach the same installation screen.

#Enabling it yourself

1. Settings > Preferences > Transparency > Watermark.
2. “Watermark” row, click “Set up” on the right.

FigureScreenshot: the “Transparency” page in preferences

The automatic chat notice and watermark items side by side, with a “Set up” button on the watermark row.

#Where your organisation requires it

Where an administrator has made the watermark mandatory workspace-wide, setup begins from the home screen rather than preferences. The next time you open Pulse, a “Setup required” card appears on the home screen explaining that the watermark has to be shown on your camera image while transcribing. Click “Set up now” on that card.

In this case the setting is managed on the workspace side, so you cannot turn the watermark off in your own preferences. Transcription may also stop while your meeting app is not using the Pulse camera, so complete setup before your next meeting.

#2. Install the camera

Once the setup screen opens, follow the steps for your operating system.

#3. Select the camera in each meeting app

After installation, the first time you use a meeting app, select the Pulse camera in that app's video settings. Its name is the camera you already use with a watermark suffix — on macOS something like FaceTime HD Camera - Pulse Watermark, and on Windows Integrated Camera - Pulse Watermark. In some Windows apps, (Windows Virtual Camera) may also be appended.

Most apps remember the camera you choose, so this is a one-off step per app.

It works the same way in other apps where you can choose a camera, Slack among them. Select the watermarked camera in each app's video settings.

Until you switch the camera over, Pulse's meeting screen shows a reminder prompting you to do so.

FigureScreenshot: the camera switch reminder

A message on the meeting screen prompting you to switch to the watermarked camera.

#How it appears, and its limits

The watermark appears on your camera image only while transcription is running. Stop transcribing and it disappears.

If you turn your camera off partway through a meeting, Pulse can only continue transcribing where notice has already been given in that meeting — specifically, where the automatic chat notice has already been sent, or the watermark was displayed earlier in the meeting. Turning your camera off with neither in place can stop transcription. If you often join meetings with your camera off, see Telling people you are recording (for individuals) and use the automatic chat notice alongside it.

#If something is not working

This lists what to check, by symptom. If none of them matches, or the remedy does not help, use the steps at the end of this article to send us diagnostic information.

#The watermarked camera does not appear in my meeting app's camera list

If it still does not appear, quit the meeting app completely, reopen it, and check the camera selection again. For meetings joined in a browser, you have to quit and restart the whole browser, not just the meeting tab. That applies to Zoom, Google Meet in Chrome, Slack, Microsoft Teams and the rest alike.

#The text looks reversed in my own video

Most meeting apps mirror your own preview, so the watermark text can look reversed on your screen. Other participants receive an unmirrored image, so for them the text reads the right way round.

#Transcription keeps stopping

Where an administrator has made the watermark mandatory, the automatic chat notice may be configured as the fallback for when your camera is off. If your camera is off, or the automatic chat notice was not sent during the meeting, Pulse may show a countdown and then stop transcribing.

To resume, click “Show watermark” on the reminder at the edge of the screen, or “Change camera” on the meeting screen. If transcription stops while your camera is on, check again that the camera selected in your meeting app is the watermarked one.

FigureScreenshot: the reminder before transcription stops

A reminder beside the edge-of-screen indicator, prompting you to show the watermark.

FigureScreenshot: the change camera reminder on the meeting screen

A message on the meeting screen prompting you to change to the watermarked camera, with a countdown until transcription stops.

#The watermark is cut off, or others cannot see it

Not often, but some meeting apps crop the video they send to fit their own layout. The watermark can then be partly or completely cut off on other participants' screens. A setting in the meeting app can sometimes help.

#Running the diagnostic check

Pulse has a check that confirms whether the camera installed and is working correctly. Open Settings > Help, click “Troubleshooting”, and find the “Watermark” item.

#macOS: I cannot find the extension in System Settings

If, in the setup dialog, you clicked not “Open System Settings” but “OK”, or Pulse could not open the right settings screen automatically, you can enable the extension manually. Where it appears depends on your macOS version.

In either case, confirm with your Mac password or Touch ID after enabling the extension, then return to Pulse.

FigureScreenshot: “Login Items & Extensions” in macOS System Settings

Choosing “Camera Extensions” from the by-category list on the “Login Items & Extensions” screen under General.

FigureScreenshot: the macOS 14 security approval screen

The Security section of the Privacy & Security screen, showing the message that system software was blocked from loading, with an “Allow” button.

#Windows: I selected the camera but no watermark appears

On Windows, the camera stays in meeting apps' lists even when Pulse is not running. The watermark itself, however, appears only while Pulse is running and transcribing. If the video looks normal with no badge, check Pulse is running and start transcribing.

#Windows: it says the watermark needs updating

Where Windows still has an old version of the camera loaded, a “Watermark update required” card appears on the home screen. There are two ways to resolve it.

• “Grant access” and, at the Windows administrator prompt, choose “Yes”. Quit Zoom, Teams and browsers before running it.
• Or restart your computer, which completes the update with no prompt.

#I cannot get past the “Change camera” step

To finish setup, Pulse has to detect that its camera is in use. Try selecting the camera once in your meeting app.

FigureScreenshot: camera selection in meeting apps

The watermarked camera selected in the camera menus of Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

#A browser meeting says “no camera found”

In meetings joined in a browser (Google Meet, Zoom on the web, Teams on the web), the camera list can get out of step with reality. It happens most often just after installing or updating the watermark.

Quit and reopen the browser and rejoin the meeting. Once it has loaded, choose the watermarked camera in the camera selector.

FigureScreenshot: “no camera found” in a browser meeting

A browser meeting screen showing a “no camera found” message alongside Pulse’s prompt to change camera.

#Related articles

If this does not resolve it, copy the diagnostics from Settings > Help and contact us at tharada@the-unchain.com.