# Waiting Rooms

Participants "knock" at the virtual door and hosts can allow entry, decline, or even send messages to communicate a delay.

## Setup

You can create a waiting room experience for your participants by making sure the room is created as locked during the API request. You do this by setting the `isLocked` property to **true**:

{% hint style="warning" %}
Make sure to include a hostRoomUrl in the request. Users provided with a hostRoomUrl will have the ability to join a locked room, as well as accept and reject participants knocking at the room.
{% endhint %}

<pre class="language-json" data-overflow="wrap"><code class="lang-json"><strong>// Example Request
</strong><strong>{
</strong>  "isLocked": true,
  "roomNamePrefix": "waiting-room-example-",
  "roomNamePattern": "uuid",
  "roomMode": "group",
  "endDate": "2024-07-05T18:10:34.695Z",
  "fields": [
    "hostRoomUrl"
  ]
}
</code></pre>

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```json
// Example Response
{
  "startDate": "2024-06-21T18:10:35.056Z",
  "endDate": "2024-07-05T18:10:34.695Z",
  "roomName": "/waiting-room-example-546f6c91-74b2-4597-b32a-6aeefa9ed90f",
  "roomUrl": "https://subdomain.whereby.com/waiting-room-example-546f6c91-74b2-4597-b32a-6aeefa9ed90f",
  "meetingId": "87673375",
  "hostRoomUrl": "https://subdomain.whereby.com/waiting-room-example-546f6c91-74b2-4597-b32a-6aeefa9ed90f?roomKey=eyJhbGciOiJIU..."
}
```

{% endcode %}

### Managing the waiting room experience

After you've created a locked room, there are a variety of ways you can customize the experience:

1. Choose the device review options that hosts and participants experience during the pre-call phase. We offer standard device reviews or full device and connectivity tests. These options can be managed globally via [the dashboard](https://docs.whereby.com/whereby-101/customizing-rooms/dashboard-preferences#pre-call-review) or various [URL parameters](https://docs.whereby.com/whereby-101/customizing-rooms/using-url-parameters#precallceremonycanskip-on)\
   \
   ![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/LH2UIJDLc2EElQvYUxWX/blobs/77Yf3iqp6DqInQz6KGFu/precall-screenshot.png)<img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/LH2UIJDLc2EElQvYUxWX/blobs/Q5Y7oixRjGybKVvi2dxm/precall-screenshot2.png" alt="" data-size="original">
2. Add a unique background image for the waiting room precall flow with our [API endpoint](https://docs.whereby.com/reference/whereby-rest-api-reference/rooms#put-rooms-roomname-theme-room-knock-page-background)

## Additional Information

### End User Experience

When a participant knocks at a locked room, hosts receive a notification in the room. They can they choose to "Put on hold" and include a message, "Let in", or "Reject":

<figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/LH2UIJDLc2EElQvYUxWX/blobs/AgFhsJD4qUOziqAhorUS/host-knock.png" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Host controls seen in the "People" tab</p></figcaption></figure>

Users are then notified from the host, or let into the room accordingly:

<figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/LH2UIJDLc2EElQvYUxWX/blobs/GAf4BqmuuuC3oLsfYGTy/participant-knock.png" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Known Limitations

* Due to privacy and security considerations, we have removed the ability for hosts to see the video feed of the guest who knocked in the Waiting Room.