Not ready to start, or want to see who's showing up before they land on the canvas? Turn on the Waiting Room and participants land in a lobby first—you decide when (and who) gets in.
Turning On the Waiting Room
The Waiting Room is off by default. To turn it on:
- Open the Share dialog
- Scroll to Space Controls
- Switch on Use Waiting Room
Once it's on, anyone who isn't a host or facilitator is held until you admit them. Hosts and facilitators always skip straight in.
Note: The Waiting Room stacks with password protection—if both are on, a participant clears the password screen first, then lands in the lobby.
What Participants See
There's no separate holding screen. A participant lands on the normal pre-join screen—camera preview, name field—and clicks Join. If the Waiting Room is on, that button changes to Asking to join..., the name field locks, and a notice appears: "You're in the waiting room. The host will let you in soon." They wait right there until you act.
Tip: If a participant reloads the page or hits back after you've admitted them, they're let straight back in—no need to re-approve someone who's already in.
Admitting Participants
You'll know someone's waiting two ways:
- A "Waiting to join" badge appears near the top-right title bar, showing up to three people at a glance (with View All if there are more)
- A Waiting Room section appears at the top of the Participants panel, with a running count
From either spot, you can:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Admit | Lets that one person into the space |
| Deny (✕) | Turns them away—their screen shows Access Denied with no way to retry |
| Admit All | Lets everyone currently waiting in at once (appears once there's more than one person in the lobby) |
Note: Turning the Waiting Room off mid-session automatically admits everyone currently held—so nobody's left stuck on a lobby screen waiting for an approval that will never come.
Hold Music
While people wait, you can play music for them instead of a silent screen. Once Use Waiting Room is on, a playlist builder appears right below the toggle in the Share dialog—paste YouTube or SoundCloud links, or upload your own tracks, and reorder them by dragging.
Each person hears the playlist loop from the start the moment they land in the lobby, rather than joining a shared, synced stream. See Sounds & Music for the full setup guide.
Related Guides
- Sharing & Permissions - Control who can access your space and what they can do
- Sounds & Music - Set up hold music and other audio for your space
- Managing Participants - Where the Participants panel lives and what else it can do