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Your network and the QR poster

Listeners have to join your Wi-Fi before the listen code will work. Fill in the poster fields, print the sheet, and tell people how to join.

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Bring your own network

Venue Wi-Fi often blocks this. Guest networks isolate each phone, so a phone can reach the internet and still be unable to reach the Mac. Bring a small network of your own and the venue’s Wi-Fi no longer matters.

Any portable or travel Wi-Fi router will do. It does not need an internet connection. RoomCast only needs the phones and the Mac on that same private Wi-Fi.

What to look for when you buy or borrow one:

• It can handle about 50 phones on a modern Wi-Fi router. The real number depends on the router, other traffic on the network, distance and walls, and the quality setting.
• It can reserve a fixed address for the Mac (sometimes called a DHCP reservation, a static lease, or address binding).

A phone’s personal hotspot usually stops at about 5 to 10 devices. That is fine for a rehearsal or a handful of listeners. It is too small for a typical room of phones.

Give the Mac a fixed address on that router so the listener link stays the same next time you power everything on. The listen address contains that address and the listener port, for example http://192.168.1.20:8889/. When the address stays put, make the poster before the event. The app warns you if the Mac’s address has changed since the poster was made. If you have to use the venue’s network instead, ask them for a fixed address for the Mac.

Make the poster

1. 1

   Set up the Wi-Fi

   Set up your own Wi-Fi for the Mac and the phones, or ask the venue for a fixed address for the Mac.

2. 2

   Fill in Settings → Poster

   Open Settings → Poster and fill in the Wi-Fi name, password, security, and hidden network if needed.

3. 3

   Open PDF QR Poster and print

   On the Listen card, press Open PDF QR Poster. Check the PDF, then print it yourself.

4. 4

   Tell listeners how to join

   Tell people to join the named Wi-Fi first, scan the codes in order, tap play, and use their own earphones.

Poster ready? If RoomCast helped, you can buy me a coffee.

The Poster pane

Open RoomCast → Settings… and choose Poster. The pane has:

• Wi-Fi name. The name people see when they join. Type the network the phones will use.
• Password. What people type if they cannot scan the join code. It is stored in the macOS Keychain on this Mac. It is not saved in the settings file, the log, or diagnostics.
• Security.
• Hidden network. Turn this on only when the router does not broadcast its name.

A short hint under those fields explains how the name is used on the poster. How to save other settings is in Settings.

What the printed poster shows

On the Listen card, Open PDF QR Poster saves a PDF and opens it. Print that PDF yourself. The poster is A4, or Letter in the US and Canada. The title is the broadcast title. A small line at the bottom says Powered by RoomCast.

If the Wi-Fi name is filled in, the poster has two codes, in order. 1. Join the Wi-Fi is a join code for that network, with the name and password written underneath. 2. Open the broadcast is the same listen link as the window, written out underneath. The last line is 3. Tap play; use your own earphones. Scan the first code, then the second.

If the Wi-Fi name is empty, the poster stays one code: the listen link, and a blank line where you can write the network name by hand.

Anyone who can read the printed sheet can read the Wi-Fi password. Print it for the room, and do not leave copies where you do not want that password seen. Print again if the router address, the Wi-Fi name, or the password changes. If you later see a warning that the address changed since the poster was made, the printed code is stale. Fix the reservation, or make a new poster.

What to tell listeners

• Join the named Wi-Fi first. If the poster shows two codes, scan 1. Join the Wi-Fi, then 2. Open the broadcast. A phone that is still on the venue’s Wi-Fi, or on mobile data, cannot open the link.
• Scan the listen code, or type the address under it. Tap play. Use your own earphones.
• If there is silence, tap the speaker or mute icon on the player and in the browser tab, then turn the phone volume up. Phones often start a web player muted.
• Keep the screen on and the browser in front. Locking the phone, or leaving the browser, may pause the audio.
• Plug the phone in for a long session.

There is no password on the stream. Anyone on that Wi-Fi who has the link can listen. The Wi-Fi password is what keeps strangers off your own network.