Turn on voice or camera in a party

Voice belongs to the party, not to you: it is on from the moment the party opens, with every microphone muted, and anyone in the party can listen with a single tap. Speaking is the part that needs permission, from the party and from your browser.

Listening

Connecting to a live party's voice never asks for anything. No microphone prompt appears, because listening does not touch your microphone at all.

While voice is running but you have not connected yet, the People room carries a Voice is live. Tap to listen. pill, and the roster strip keeps a Voice is on chip so you can find the voice room from anywhere in the panel. Once you are connected, switching between People, Chat, and Voice never drops the audio.

Speaking

Two things gate it, and they are different in kind:

• A mic seat. The first four people in the party, host included, get one on arrival, in the order they turn up. Past the fourth, the host hands them out from the same room, up to ten in a party, and the count is the same on every plan. Without a seat there is no unmute button to press. A guest without an account is never seated automatically, though a host can still give them a seat by name. A teen age band works the same way: no automatic seat, but a host can give one by name. What it still blocks is turning voice on for a party you host. If a host takes a mic back, or the automated check on what was said does, leaving and rejoining does not return it; only the host giving it back does.
• Your browser's microphone permission. The first time you unmute, your browser asks. Allow it once and unmute works directly afterwards. If the microphone is blocked, the panel says so plainly instead of asking again, and points you at your browser's site settings.

Voice comes on by itself in a private, unlisted or invite-only party, whatever your plan. On a public or discoverable party it takes a paid plan, because that party is a broadcast anyone can walk into: a free host's public party opens with voice off, and the voice room says so rather than offering a button that would be refused. Joining, listening and speaking are free for everyone in every kind of party.

Making the room sound right to you

Two controls exist because a party is not a broadcast, and both are yours alone:

• Per-speaker volume. Every remote speaker's tile carries its own slider, labeled Volume for that person, running from silent to half again as loud. Turn a quiet friend up and a loud one down. Nothing you do here reaches anyone else, and none of it is saved: the sliders start level again next time.
• The stage. The voice room puts one large tile at the top that follows whoever has the floor. Pin anyone to hold them there, and unpin to go back to following the conversation. The pin is yours, so two people in the same party can be watching different faces.

Your own tile has no slider, because your mic mute already covers your own audio.

Captions

Captions are a per-viewer switch reading Show captions. It starts off and your choice is remembered, so once you turn it on it stays on.

The transcription happens on the speaking side, in the speaker's own browser, and only the resulting text is published to the party. No audio is sent anywhere to be captioned, nothing is recorded, and a line disappears from the party after about half a minute. That also sets an honest limit: captions appear for the speakers whose browser can transcribe, which is why the switch carries the line Captions appear for speakers whose browser supports them rather than promising them for everyone.

Camera, and how to get to it

Set Who can join to Followers, Friends or A group before you start the party. Camera rides on voice and is built for a private party, and those three are what make one, because each puts a door on the party that checks every arrival. Everyone makes it discoverable and Invite only leaves it unlisted; neither is private, so neither gets camera.

In a party like that, the camera button appears beside the mic when all of this holds:

1. The host has allowed camera for the party. Their Allow camera control sits at the foot of the voice panel, and until the host presses it nobody has a camera button, however well they meet the rest of this list.
2. You hold a mic seat. Camera is voice plus video, so voice comes first.
3. Your plan includes it.
4. Your age, and the host's. An adult answer to the one-time age question satisfies this today, and it has to hold at both ends: live audio and video are blocked for accounts on a teen age band, yours or the host's. The product can be switched to require a verified adult account instead of an answer, and if that happens the question asks for verification.

When someone does have their camera on, their video fills their tile and turning it off returns them to their avatar. Video goes straight between the people in the party. Nothing is recorded and nothing is stored, the same as voice.

Two quieter behaviors worth knowing: a viewer on a teen age band never sees incoming camera tiles at all, and a device reporting data saver, a slow connection, or very little memory does not automatically render other people's video either. The second one is yours to overrule: while someone else's camera is being held back, the voice panel says so and offers Show cameras anyway, which brings the tiles in for the rest of that party in this tab. Reloading the page starts them hidden again, and so does the next party. The teen age band is never overruled by it.

The one-time age question

The first time you unmute as a granted speaker, or turn camera on, you are asked for your birth month and year. It is asked once, it never hints at what any answer will do, and if you are old enough you carry straight on with what you were doing. Correct the age on your account covers changing your answer afterwards.

What's next

• Party voice, captions, and camera is the full feature article, including the stage roles and reporting a speaker.
• Host a private watch party covers setting the visibility camera needs.

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