You may notice that some options present on the management console's Settings page are shaded blue. This indicates that an admin has modified the setting from its default state, enabling or "locking" its configuration on user devices.

Console settings vary in nature. Some afford detailed configuration of their expected behavior—for example, setting a maximum voice messages length of 1 minute—while others, like ad hoc conversations, are simply toggled on or off for users.

The majority of options available on the console's Settings page can only be configured by an admin, leaving no control for end-users. These settings generally enable and configure specific features and actions for the network.

Other settings—for example, noise suppression—are present both in the management console and in the Zello app. These shared settings often relate to audio, alerts, and local history configurations. For more information on in-app settings, please see the Android and iOS in-app settings guides, respectively.

Configuring and Locking Settings

Please refer to the Console-Only Settings dropdown if you'd like additional information on "locking" a setting that's exclusively managed through the console; refer to the Console + In-App Settings dropdown if you'd like more information about what "locked" means for settings that are present both in-app and the console.

• Settings exclusively managed from the console (i.e. settings that aren't also present in-app) will appear blue once you've altered them from their default configuration. 
  

  Please note that because these settings aren't manageable from the app, any assigned configuration—including the default configuration—will be enforced on user devices. Blue represents a change from what Zello defines as the setting's default, but the settings will always be enforced for end-users as they're configured in the management console. 

  Let's walk through configuration of the maximum voice message duration setting.
  
  

  Zello's default time limit for voice messages is unlimited, meaning any person on my network can send voice messages that are an unlimited duration.
  If I change that to setting to 1 minute, the setting turns blue—indicating a modification from the default configuration of unlimited. Now, all voice messages sent by users will be capped at one minute in length.
  This setting cannot be adjusted in-app, so parameters assigned from the management console will always be fixed for network users—including the default of "unlimited." To revert the setting back to an unlimited duration, click the circular arrow. The setting will once again be white, indicating it's in what Zello defines as the default state:

• Some settings are present both in the management console and the Zello app. When these settings aren't locked for users—i.e. the settings haven't been changed from the console, as indicated by a white background—individual users can configure them from their device.
  

  Please note that there are significantly fewer settings that overlap between the console and app; most of them pertain to audio, alerts, and local device history. For more information on in-app settings, see this article for Android and this article for iOS.

  Let's take a look at the Noise Suppression setting, which is available both in the console and in the Zello app.
  
  

  The default state of this setting—as indicated by the white background—is off. But because this setting isn't locked, iOS users retain the ability to turn it on or off for their own device through Zello's in-app settings.
  If an admin would like to forcefully enable this setting for all network users operating on iOS devices, they can toggle it ON. This will shade the setting's background blue, and a circular arrow will be added to the left of the toggle.
  As an iOS user in this network, I'm now unable to change the Noise suppression setting on my device.
  The reverse is also true—if an admin would like to ensure this setting remains off for all network users, they can click the toggle once more. The setting will be forcefully turned off for all network users, who will NOT be able to turn it on from their device.  Any setting that's shaded blue and includes the circular arrow is locked, even if it looks like it's returned to the default state.
  If you'd like to return control over the setting's enablement to individual users, click the blue circular arrow. This will return the setting to its default state. Settings changed from the default state are locked; shared settings that return to the default state can be configured from a user's device.

A Note For New Networks

You may notice some settings are blue even if you haven't adjusted them. This happens because Zello often automatically enables newly-released features for networks created AFTER the feature's launch, but keeps them disabled for existing networks to avoid altering settings without prior permission.

For example—when the transcriptions feature was released in 2024, we automatically enabled it for networks created after its launch date, but we left it off for existing customers to allow them to decide if the new capability would benefit their users. Although transcriptions are technically automatically available to all new networks, on isn't their "default" setting. Nevertheless, you'll notice it's blue when you start a new trial:

This behavior is to be expected and isn't a cause for concern.