Breakout rooms are Whereby video rooms shown inside Brella. Most problems come from the room URLs, the opening times, or camera and microphone permissions on the attendee's device.
Before you start
You need to be an organization admin or an event admin to open Content > Breakout rooms.
Know the two URLs of a room. Speaker URL is on the room card and on the edit page; attendees use it through Brella. Host URL is behind Show Host URL on the card and on the edit page; it gives moderator controls. Share it with one person.
How rooms work
Brella creates the Whereby room right after you save the breakout room. Until it is ready, the card shows "URL will be here soon, refresh the page".
Attendees join through the Speaker URL with their camera and microphone off, in-call chat on, Whereby breakout groups on, and the participant list hidden. Their Brella name is filled in.
Attendees can enter a room from Brella only between its start and end time. The card shows Open, Starts … or Closed. Outside the times, the room screen shows "This room isn't open yet — it opens …" or "This room is closed."
The times are checked when the room screen loads or refreshes its data. Brella does not end the call at the end time. People already in the call stay until they leave.
The Speaker URL and Host URL keep working until the Whereby room expires, also outside the room's times, when opened directly in a browser.
Moving the event's end date later replaces every room with a new Whereby room, with a new Speaker URL and Host URL. A host who opens the old Host URL is in the old room, while attendees from Brella join the new one.
Rooms that are switched off on their card are not sent to attendees. Settings > Enable breakout rooms off hides the whole page: "Turning off breakout rooms will deactivate them for all attendees".
Where attendees find rooms
Mobile app: Menu > Breakout Rooms (or the name you gave the page). The room opens inside the app.
Web app: Breakout Rooms in the left menu (or Menu on narrow windows). The room opens full width on its own page.
Each room card shows the dates, the status (Open, Starts … or Closed) and the times. Times are shown in the time zone the app uses for the attendee: the event's time zone for in-person attendees, their own time zone for virtual and hybrid attendees. All day shows as a time range when the attendee's time zone differs from the event's.
Device requirements
Web app: a current desktop or mobile browser. The browser must allow camera and microphone for the web app's domain; the room asks for them when it loads. The room can also ask for screen-capture permission, which hosts need to share their screen.
Mobile app: the Brella app asks for camera and microphone permission the first time they are needed. If an attendee denied it, they turn it on in the phone's settings for Brella.
A connection that allows the call's media traffic. See Firewall and network requirements.
For the browsers and devices Whereby supports, see Whereby supported devices.
Troubleshooting
The card shows "URL will be here soon, refresh the page"
The Whereby room is still being created. Refresh the page. If it stays after a minute, contact Brella through Support.
Attendees cannot find the room
Check, in order: the switch on the room card is on; Settings > Enable breakout rooms is on; the room is within its Date and Time (or All day). Attendees with a direct link to a switched-off or deleted room see "Room not found". An event without visible rooms shows "No breakout rooms yet" (the words follow the page name).
Attendees see "This room isn't open yet" or "This room is closed." too early or too late
The Date and Time are in the event's time zone. Open the room from Content > Breakout rooms and compare. The dates can only be within the event dates. A room set to All day opens at 00:00 and closes at 23:59 in the event's time zone.
Camera or microphone does not work
Attendees joining through Brella start with camera and microphone off. Check these in order:
Turn on the camera or microphone in the call controls.
Check the selected camera, microphone and speakers in the room's device settings. Test the microphone and camera preview.
Close other apps or browser tabs using those devices.
In a browser, check camera and microphone permissions for the page's domain. On mobile, check Brella's permissions in the phone's settings.
If access was denied at operating-system level, allow the browser or app in the device's privacy settings, then reopen it and retry.
For the attendee checks, see Set up audio and video for virtual meetings. For the provider's current device menu, see Whereby meeting settings.
The host cannot share the screen
Open the Host URL in a desktop browser. Use Share, choose a tab, window or screen in the browser prompt, and confirm. If you cancel the prompt, try Share again.
If Firefox stopped showing the capture prompt after a denial, open the site information beside the address, reset Share the Screen, refresh and try again. Chrome has no separate site setting for screen access. On macOS, allow your browser under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording, then fully quit and reopen the browser. Names can differ by operating-system version. See Whereby screen-sharing troubleshooting.
Audio or video freezes, or the room cannot connect
Try a wired connection or another network, such as a mobile hotspot. If the same device works there, ask your IT team to check the original network or VPN against Firewall and network requirements. Include the time, device, browser and error when asking for help.
The end time has passed but people are still in the call
Expected: Brella does not end calls. To stop new attendees from entering, switch the room off on its card. People already in the call stay until they leave or the host ends the call in Whereby.
"Update failed" after changing a room
The change was not saved and the page reloads. Make the change again. If it fails again, contact Brella through Support.
"Failed" when creating a room
Brella did not save the room. One cause is the room limit, which counts rooms that are switched off. Delete a room you no longer need, or contact Brella through Support to raise the limit. The limit is not editable in the admin panel.
Get help
Select Support in the top bar of the admin panel. It opens a chat with Brella and attaches the event you have open.