Get comfortable in your room

Join a room

Choose a room from the directory, or enter its room name. Room search needs at least three consecutive letters or numbers. Enter the name you want people to see and choose Join Room.

A room may require an account, a password or a host's approval. If you are waiting in the lobby, you have not joined the room and are not broadcasting. You can cancel while you wait.

Copy room link shares the room's address, not your account or its password. A link does not bypass the room's entry rules. Keep passwords separate and share them only with the people you intend to invite.

Room links, cards, and browser Back or Forward select a room. Press Join to enter it. The simplestChat name at the top and Leave return you home. The lobby shows whether a moderator is connected; you can keep waiting or cancel if nobody is available.

On a phone the chat panel sits under the video. The arrow at the end of its tabs collapses it to the tab bar so the video gets the space; tapping any tab opens it again. Turn the phone sideways and the panel moves beside the video instead.

Camera and sound

Open Your settings or Mic setup to choose devices. Use Test camera or Test microphone beside its selector to allow access and reveal available devices without saving. These tests and Start preview are private; your microphone is not played through your speakers. Previewing is not broadcasting.

Save settings applies device preferences. It can switch a camera or microphone you are already using, but never turns on an inactive one. Layout and talk-mode choices apply immediately. Turning on the camera or microphone in the room requests permission directly and starts that device. You do not need to save Settings first.

While the room has focus and you are not typing, M turns your microphone on or off, V your camera and S screen sharing. The full list is under More in the room tools, with Mic setup, your nickname, room management, Refresh incoming media and Diagnostics.

Pin on a person's video keeps it large on your screen while the others line up below it. Pinning is your own view; it changes nothing for anyone else, and it is released when that person stops sharing.

Use the camera, microphone or screen-sharing controls to publish. Your browser may ask for permission or a screen/window to share. A stopped or disconnected device needs an explicit restart; the app does not silently open it again.

In push-to-talk mode, hold the microphone control or Space to speak and release it to stop. Space does not activate push-to-talk while you are typing or using a dialog.

Each person's viewing controls include volume, mute and hide. Those choices affect only your view. They do not mute that person's microphone for anyone else. A browser may block sound until you interact with the page; use the playback recovery control when offered.

Screen-sharing status tells you whether screen audio is included. Browser and source support varies; sharing a window or screen does not always include its sound.

Messages and privacy

The room conversation is public to eligible room participants. Choose a person's private-message action to start a separate conversation, and check the selected conversation before sending. Drafts and sent-message recall stay with that conversation.

A pending message has not yet been confirmed. If it stays unconfirmed, use Retry to check the original send. Confirmation is limited to the current room session and may become unavailable. Copying it to a draft and sending again creates a new message that could duplicate the original. Private messages cannot be sent to someone who has left, opted out or blocked delivery.

Chat preferences let you turn private messages off and ignore participants. Ignoring is personal filtering, not a room-wide sanction. When you are signed in, these preferences and your ignore list are saved to your account and follow you to other devices. Reporting someone sends the report to room moderators; it does not automatically hide them, remove them or preserve a full recording.

Similar names are numbered in the room. The ID beside a name distinguishes participants; an account badge means signed in, not verified identity. Hover for the full ID.

Chat options also set how message times appear and the color others recognize you by: one of sixteen colors, or Automatic from your name, shown as a stripe, colored text or a tinted bubble. Everyone in the room sees it on your name, messages and video tag. An account keeps it for every room; as a guest, this browser remembers it.

Hover over or tap a message for React and Reply. A reply quotes the message it answers; choosing the quote scrolls to that message while it is still in the chat. Reactions are one of eight, and choosing yours again takes it back. Typing @ offers matching names; a New messages line marks where you left off. Chat options can also turn on desktop notifications for mentions and private messages that arrive while the tab is out of sight; your browser asks permission once. Notices hide names and messages unless you explicitly enable previews, which may appear on your lock screen.

Do not use chat as permanent storage. Recent history and reconnect recovery are limited and live in server memory. Leaving, restarting the server or older entries being evicted can make messages unavailable.

Private messages and media are not end-to-end encrypted. Server operators are part of the trust boundary. A room marked secret is unlisted, not protected from someone who knows its address; hosts must configure access rules separately.

Hosting a room

With an account, use Create Room and My rooms to manage your rooms. Availability depends on the server's account and registration settings.

Room settings change the room for everyone. Wait for confirmation; failed edits stay visible so you can check the room state and retry. Entry rules, lobby approval and participation permissions are separate: admitting someone does not necessarily let them broadcast or speak in a moderated room.

Room admins can invite people with a link (My rooms → Invites…) offering a member, moderator or admin role; nobody is demoted by accepting one. An account can also hand out registration invite codes while registration is closed. Review and explicitly accept a room invitation, then choose Join. Creating an invitation shows its private link only once. Use membership roles to delegate moderation carefully. Moderation actions are not the same as your personal viewing controls. Check the target and duration before banning someone, and use the management views to review bans, reports and the room's moderation history. Kicking or banning from a report resolves it and records what it led to; the owner's history also shows the address a sanction applied to.

The people list marks roles with a symbol before the name:

• ~ owner
• & admin
• @ moderator
• + member

A blank participant or broadcaster limit removes that room-specific cap; a limit of zero allows no one. Server-wide capacity limits still apply. Room settings show whether a password is set; Remove password clears it. Deleting a room disconnects its current participants; the confirmation asks for its room name.

Accounts and recovery

Accounts can use passwords and, when configured by the server, passkeys. Display names can change; they are not proof of someone's identity. This app does not verify ownership of email addresses.

In Account, verify with a working passkey or your current password to generate a recovery key, then save it somewhere private. It is shown once. Generating another key replaces the previous one.

To change your only passkey, choose Replace passkey beside it. Verify, save the new recovery key, then choose Create replacement passkey. You do not need a password. The old server key is removed only after the new one is verified; all sessions then sign out. Keep the recovery key in case your password manager replaces its local key but registration fails. If your only passkey is already unavailable, use a previously saved recovery key to regain access.

Recover with a saved key consumes that key and sets a new password. Signing out clears saved names, devices and chat preferences from this browser. Account preferences remain on the server. Password changes and recovery sign out existing account sessions. Passkey-only accounts do not have a current password for password-based controls.

There is no password-reset email flow. Do not assume an operator can recover an account without a working sign-in method or saved recovery key. Never send passwords, passkeys, recovery keys or session credentials in chat or reports.

Passkeys and password managers

Choose Register with passkey after entering your email and display name. You do not need to fill in the password fields. Your browser or password manager asks where to save the passkey. simplestChat cannot select a particular provider for you.

To sign in, choose Use a passkey. You do not need to enter your email; your browser or password manager lets you choose the account.

To save in Bitwarden, use its browser extension. If the system prompt opens instead, cancel it before checking the extension. In Bitwarden's Settings → Notifications, enable Ask to save and use passkeys and check that this site is not in the excluded or blocked domains. Reload the page and try again. Bitwarden's passkey instructions (new tab)

A passkey QR code in the browser's system prompt is for continuing on a nearby phone. Use that phone's camera when choosing this route. Bitwarden's screen scanner for verification codes does not import a passkey from this QR code. Cancel the system prompt to return to the browser and use the extension instead.

When something goes wrong

My camera or microphone is unavailable

Check the browser's permission for this site, whether another app is using the device, and the selected device in Your settings. Reconnect a missing device, then explicitly start preview or capture again. Preview failure does not grant the app permission to try another device silently.

I cannot hear someone

Check your output device, system volume, room volume and that person's viewing controls. Ask whether they are broadcasting. Use the playback recovery control if the browser requests a gesture. Your settings also offers a short speaker test and, in supported browsers, an output-device choice. Other browsers use your system output device.

Chat connects but video does not arrive

Chat and media use different connections. A connected status alone does not prove video is working. Check whether the person is publishing, then try Refresh incoming media. This keeps your microphone and camera settings. If the problem persists, leave and rejoin explicitly; that stops your capture and may interrupt private conversations. A network restriction may need help from the server operator.

I was disconnected

The app attempts to reconnect. A brief disconnect may recover the same room, but this is not guaranteed. Wait for recovery before sending again. A full rejoin or expired session may require the room password or approval again.

I need to report a problem

Contact your room host or server operator. Describe the action, visible error, browser and whether chat, sound or video was affected. Leave out passwords, recovery keys, private messages and raw connection diagnostics.