# Joining & In-Meeting Controls Join from an invite link, admit guests, share your screen, use captions, and run breakout rooms. Created: September 16, 2026 Updated: September 16, 2026 ## Joining a Meeting 1. Click **Join the meeting** in your invite email (or a meeting card on meet.vinsi.ai). 2. Sign in, or click **Create an account & join** — a free VINSI account using the invited email address is required. 3. Check your camera and microphone in the lobby, then click **Join now**. On a phone you may be offered the VINSI Video app — choose **Open in the app** or **Continue in this browser**. Chrome or Edge on a computer gives the full experience. ### The Lobby - Preview your camera; toggle **Mic on** / **Muted** and **Camera on** / **Camera off**. - Choose your microphone and camera, and pick a **Background**. - See who's already in the meeting and who's invited. ### Waiting Room The host, invitees, and people with the same company email domain as the host or an invitee join directly. Anyone else sees **Waiting for host to admit you** and joins automatically once admitted. Hosts see _"{name} wants to join the meeting"_ and a **Waiting room** panel with **Admit** and **Deny**. ## Meeting Controls | Button | What it does | | ---------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Participants** | Who's here, **Copy invite link**, and who's invited. | | **Share** | Share a screen, window, or tab. | | Microphone / Camera | Turn on/off; the small arrow picks a device. | | **Background** | Blur or replace your background. | | **Raise hand** | Shows ✋ on your video and notifies everyone. | | **React** / **Throw** / **Arcade** | Emoji reactions, playful throwables, and games (if the host enabled them). | | **Captions** | Live transcript or translation, just for you. | | **Annotate** | Draw on a shared screen. | | **Chat** | Messages and files. | | **Leave** | Leave (or end) the meeting. | The person speaking moves to the front of the grid, and a shared screen becomes the main view. ### Backgrounds & Blur Click **Background** and choose **None**, **Blur**, a built-in image, or one of your organization's custom backgrounds. **Adjust quality settings** fine-tunes blur strength and edges; tick **Keep only me (hide people behind you)** to hide others in the frame. Your choice is remembered for next time. The button is hidden in browsers without WebGL2 support. ### Captions & Translation Click **Captions** and choose **Live transcript**, or **Translate to** English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Vietnamese, or Tagalog. Captions only appear on your screen. ### Chat Send to **Everyone** or privately to one person. Attach images, PDFs, text, CSV, or Office files up to 10 MB with the paperclip. Chat isn't saved after the meeting — download anything you need before leaving. ### Screen Share & Annotate While someone is sharing, click **Annotate** for pen, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, and text tools with colors and widths. Everyone sees the drawings. Use **Undo**, **Clear all**, or **Save as image**, then **Close annotate**. The person sharing can also offer [Remote control](https://docs.vinsi.ai/meet/remote-control). ### Pop Out In Chrome or Edge, **Pop out** floats the meeting in a small always-on-top window with mic, camera, share, and leave buttons — handy while you work in other apps. It opens automatically when you switch tabs or start sharing. Close it to bring the meeting back to the tab. ## Host Controls Hosts and co-hosts get extra options: - **Participants** — mute a microphone, stop a camera, **Mute everyone**, admit waiting guests, and **See attendance** (join and leave times). - **Make host** — hand host controls to someone else (host only). - **Controls** — turn reactions, throw items, and arcade games on or off for everyone (host). - **Record** and **AI summary** — see [Recording & AI Summaries](https://docs.vinsi.ai/meet/recording). ### Breakout Rooms 1. Click **Breakouts**. 2. Set the number of rooms, rename them, and **Auto-distribute** or **Assign people**. 3. Optionally set **Auto-close after** minutes, then click **Open rooms**. While rooms are open you can **Join** any room, **Message all rooms**, and **Close all rooms**. Participants can click **Ask for help** to flag the host. ## Leaving & Ending Click **Leave**. Hosts and co-hosts choose **End meeting for everyone** (also stops recording) or **Leave (meeting continues)**. If you refresh the page by accident, you rejoin automatically with the same camera, mic, and background. ## Troubleshooting | Message or problem | What to do | | ---------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "Your camera & microphone are blocked for this site" | Click the camera/lock icon in the address bar, allow Camera and Microphone, then **Reload**. | | "This meeting link went dark" | The link expired or the meeting was removed — ask the host for a new invite. | | Wrong account error | Click **Switch account** and sign in with the invited email. | | Stuck on "Waiting for host to admit you" | Ask the host to check the Waiting room panel. | | No Background or Pop out button | Use a current version of Chrome or Edge. | | Echo or feedback | Use a headset, or mute when not speaking. |