What's new in Nametags

Fixed

• An MSI for Windows deployments. IT teams rolling Nametags out with Intune or another management tool can download the MSI installer again, from the download page. It installs silently, like before.

Good to know

• Nothing changes inside the app: this is the same Nametags as 0.5.1, so there’s no need to update for its own sake.

Fixed

• Background blur is smooth again. With Blur my background on, the Nametags camera could drop to around 18 frames a second and keep your Mac busy. Blurring now happens on your Mac’s graphics chip, so your video holds a steady 30 frames a second and Nametags uses about a third less processor time.
• Virtual backgrounds are lighter too. They use about a quarter less processor time, which means a cooler Mac and longer battery life on long calls.

New

• Designs from your organization. Admins upload a design made in the Nametag Builder to the Control Center’s new Designs page. It shows up in Appearance, after the built-in styles, previewed with your own name and logo. Pick it and your tag looks exactly as it did in the builder, on Zoom and on your Mac’s camera.
• A required design. An admin can require one design for the whole organization, or a different one for a group. If yours is required, Appearance says which design your organization uses instead of offering the styles.

Good to know

• A design sets its own position, size and colours, so those settings step aside while one is in use. The weather badge still shows.
• A field your organization hides stays hidden in a design too.

Fixed

• The clock keeps time. On a Mac, the time on the weather badge could fall up to ten minutes behind while the Nametags window was hidden or covered, which during a call is most of the time. Nametags now reads the clock every time it draws your camera, so the time changes right on the minute.

Fixed

• Straight to the right switch. When macOS was waiting for you to turn on the Nametags camera, the setup step’s button still said Install camera extension, and pressing it did nothing useful. It now says Open System Settings and opens the page with the switch.

This update doesn’t replace the camera, so it can’t disturb one that’s working.

Fixed

• Updates keep your camera. On a Mac, an update could leave the Nametags camera missing, with the app asking you to restart it, and then your Mac. Updates now replace the camera only when it actually changed, and do it in a way macOS doesn’t refuse.
• Repair camera. If the camera is ever missing after an update, Repair camera brings it back without restarting your Mac: confirm with Touch ID or your password, then turn Nametags back on in System Settings when the app asks.

This update replaces the camera one last time. If it goes missing afterwards, use Repair camera in the setup step.

Improved

• Clearer update notes. When a new version is available, the notes beside Install are now this changelog’s entry for it — what you can now do and what got fixed — instead of a list of internal changes. They’re formatted too, with headings and bullet points.

Fixed

• Install works. On a Mac, clicking Install on an update failed with “Nametags could not replace itself”, so the only way to update was downloading it again. The fault was in how updates were packaged, not in the app, so earlier versions install this one with a click too — no download needed.
• Readable release notes. The notes shown with an update are formatted, instead of appearing as raw text.

New

• Temperature unit. Under Appearance → Weather, choose °C or °F for the badge. Automatic keeps following your region.
• Time format. With Show the local time on, choose a 12-hour or 24-hour clock, or leave it on Automatic.

Live in Zoom and on the web now; the desktop app has it from this release.

Fixed

• Nametags no longer freezes on its first launch after a restart. In 0.4.7 the app could stop responding right after opening, until it was force-quit, if it was the first thing to use the camera system after your Mac started up.
• The window stays responsive while Nametags updates its camera, instead of waiting on it.

Fixed

• Your meeting background survives a restart. A background you picked used to disappear when Nametags restarted. It’s now kept on your computer until you remove it.
• First launch no longer waits on the camera prompt. Nametags used to ask for your camera the moment it opened, and its window stayed stuck until you answered. It now opens straight away and asks during setup: click Allow camera in the Allow camera access step.

New

• The video-off card shows your meeting background. When Nametags isn’t sending video, the card in your call app shows the meeting background you picked — or your organization’s — behind your name, instead of a flat colour.

Fixed

• Your webcam only turns on for a real call. Another app on your Mac could make Nametags switch your webcam on by imitating a call app. Nametags now checks with its camera before starting.
• Switched the camera off in System Settings? Nametags now says to turn it back on there, instead of offering to install it again.
• Camera blocked by your organization? Nametags says to ask your IT team, instead of sending you to a setting you can’t change.
• Restart didn’t happen? If macOS doesn’t let Nametags restart your Mac, it now says so and how to do it yourself.
• Installation errors are shorter and readable.
• The card shown when your video is off can’t be replaced with an oversized image.

Fixed

• macOS 27: the Nametags camera turned away the Nametags app itself, because macOS 27 no longer tells the camera which app is connecting. Setup stayed on Install camera extension however many times you installed it. The camera now accepts the app, and still lets only one app feed it at a time.

New

• Install with Homebrew: brew install --cask getnametags/tap/nametags.

Fixed

• If the Nametags camera refuses the app’s video, Nametags says so, instead of offering to install a camera that is already installed.
• A first attempt at the macOS 27 camera problem below. It didn’t fix it; v0.4.2 does.

New

• Location is a new field on your nametag. Your organization can lock it to an office, or hide it.
• Weather badge. Turn it on under Appearance → Weather to show the current temperature and conditions where you are, in any corner of your video. It refreshes every ten minutes, and shows in every app that uses the Nametags camera.
• Local time. Add the time at your location to the badge, so people in other time zones know whether it’s morning for you.
• Temperatures are in °F or °C depending on your region.

Fixed

• The window no longer freezes while the camera is stopping, including when you open Nametags while another app is already using your camera.
• Windows updates install from the regular installer.
• Only the Nametags app can send video to the Nametags camera, and sign-in is stricter about where it sends you back to.

Good to know

• Nametags now needs macOS 13 or later.

New

• The desktop app updates itself. When a new version is out, the app offers it and installs it for you.
• A disk image for macOS. Drag Nametags into Applications from the window that opens, which is also what lets macOS install the camera.
• Seasonal templates. In the Control Center, schedule a logo and a meeting background for a date range — a launch week, a conference, the holidays — and they apply and expire on their own.
• A logo library your organization picks from, instead of uploading the same file again.
• Zoom fills in your nametag from your Zoom profile the first time you sign in, and signs you in automatically after that.
• Your nametag when your video is off. The camera shows a card with your name and logo instead of a blank frame.
• A refreshed Control Center, with a lighter look, a searchable template list, and clearer page layouts.
• The app now follows your system’s light or dark appearance.

Fixed

• Background blur no longer stops after about 14 minutes.
• The camera you pick is the one that’s published.
• Typing right after uploading a logo no longer removes it.
• Installing and upgrading the camera extension is more reliable, and every fix button says what it’s doing.
• Sign-in and image uploads were tightened after a security review.

New

• The Control Center. A dashboard for your organization, with groups, policy and a preview of how a nametag will look.
• People at scale. Filter, select and remove people and groups in bulk, and open a profile page for each person.
• SSO field mapping. Fill nametag fields straight from your identity provider’s attributes.
• Background blur on the desktop that blurs everything behind you but keeps your nametag sharp.
• Virtual backgrounds on the desktop, from a library your organization or group manages.

Fixed

• Meeting backgrounds in Zoom use Zoom’s own virtual background.
• The desktop app asks your camera which formats it supports, instead of assuming one.

Fixed

• The app checks that your camera actually sends frames in the format it agreed to, and recovers if it doesn’t.

Fixed

• Nametags remembers which camera you chose, instead of going back to the default every time it opens.

New

• Save frame keeps a still of your nametag preview, for a profile picture or anywhere the live nametag can’t follow.

Fixed

• A camera that opens but never sends a picture now times out instead of hanging.
• Empty fields you’re allowed to edit are no longer shown as locked.

New

• Preview your nametag over your camera right in the browser.

Fixed

• When installing the camera does nothing, the app says why.

New

• A virtual camera for macOS. Pick “Nametags” as your camera in Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex or any other app, and your nametag is on your video.
• A Zoom app that draws your nametag inside Zoom.
• Six looks to choose from, plus your own colours, size, corner and logo.
• Sign in with your company’s SSO or with Zoom, and your nametag follows you between devices.
• Organization policy decides which fields people can edit, which are locked, and which are hidden.
• A menu bar item that shows whether your nametag is live.