Join a watch party from a link

A party link takes you to a poster first, never straight into the video. You see what you are joining, then choose how to join it, and only then does the video open with the party running.

What the link looks like

The host copies it from their Share this party row, so it arrives as a short address on vdr.fyi with an eight-character code on the end. That code is the whole party: there is no separate code to type in anywhere, and the QR code the host can show is the same address in scannable form. The link is not indexed by search engines and carries no referrer when you click away from it, so passing it on is the only way it spreads.

Joining

1. Open the link. You land on the party's poster: the video's thumbnail, the party's title, a line reading something like Nimble Robin started a watch party, and a live count reading 3 people here now.

2. Press the button under it. For a moment it reads Checking your session and cannot be pressed, while the page works out where you stand. Then you get one of:

   • Join if you are already signed in. One press.
   • Sign in and join if you are not. It takes you to the sign-in page and brings you back to this same poster afterwards, where Join is waiting.
   • Join without signing in underneath, but only on parties whose host allowed anonymous riders. It puts you in as a guest with no account.

3. Let it finish. The button reads Getting you in while the join is in flight. If something goes wrong it says so on the spot and nothing changes, so you can press it again.

4. You land on the video. The party is already running and the Watch Along panel is open, so the host's play, pause, and seek carry over to you from the first second.

If you arrive signed out

The poster is fully readable signed out. You can see the video, the host's name, and how many people are in there before deciding anything, which is the point of the poster.

What you cannot do signed out is join a party that has anonymous riders switched off. On those, Sign in and join is the only button, and it is a real detour: you sign in or create an account, then come back to the poster. The party keeps running while you do it, so you rejoin the group mid-video rather than starting over.

Joining as a guest works, but it is thinner on purpose. A guest seat cannot start a party of its own, and nothing you do in the party is kept against an account you do not have.

If you are already in the party

The poster recognizes you and the button changes to Rejoin the party, which skips joining entirely and takes you back to the group. It checks where the party actually is before it moves you, so if the host has moved on since the poster loaded you land on the video they are on now rather than the one in the picture. That is the button to use when you closed the tab, or when someone sends you the link a second time. Nothing is joined twice and your seat is the one you already had.

When a link does not work

Two dead ends, both worded plainly rather than as errors:

• The party ended. The page reads This watch along has ended and offers Watch the video, because the video is still there even though the party is not.
• The link is unknown. The page reads This party link isn't working and points at the home page. A mistyped character is the usual cause, so it is worth checking the code against the original message before asking the host for a new one.

Who sees you once you are in

You arrive Masked, which means the party sees a made-up two-word name like Quiet Otter and nothing else about you. You can change that from the visibility control in the Watch Along panel at any time: at its bottom on a computer, on its You card on a phone held upright. Masks and staying anonymous covers what each choice shows and what it does not.

What's next

• Invite a friend to a watch party is the other side of this: getting the link out in the first place.
• See when someone joins your watch party is what the host sees when your join lands.

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