Can't join a focus room? Common issues explained

You were disconnected or can't join — the usual causes

If you get kicked out of a room or can't get in, it's usually one of these:

You opened the room in another tab or device. You can only have one focus room session at a time — joining from a new tab/device ends the old one. Close the extras and rejoin. If you just left a room, wait 30–60 seconds for our system to register it before rejoining.
The room reset. Rooms restart automatically every 12–24 hours; just rejoin.
You briefly lost connection. An internet blip disconnects you from the live room — rejoin when you're back online.
You hit your daily time limit. Free and Basic plans include a set amount of focus room time per day — it resets based on the time zone set in your Profile settings, not your device clock. Heads up: with the room open in several tabs or devices at once, your time is used up by each of them, faster than the on-screen counter suggests. See: Plans and daily focus room time limits.
You were removed or timed out by a moderator. A timeout message shows how long until you can rejoin. See: Reporting users and appealing bans.
The room is at capacity. "This focus room is at capacity" — try again in a few minutes or join another room. (Some rooms also limit guests — logging in helps.)

The room is laggy or won't load properly

Reduce the number of video tiles per page (in-room Settings → Video).
Use the lite version — on the web, choose "Join lite" on the room card. It's much lighter on slow connections and older devices.
Close other bandwidth-heavy apps and, if you're on a VPN, try without it. A router restart fixes a surprising share of repeated-disconnect cases.
Try another browser (Chrome and Edge tend to work best) or restart the app.

There's no sound in the room — is that a bug?

No — focus rooms are silent by design. Everyone is muted to keep the rooms distraction-free. Nothing is wrong on your end!

Want to actually talk with people while you study? Create or join a Space — a small group inside the focus room with its own voice chat that only its members can hear. Click "Spaces" in the room's bottom bar (desktop web). See: Spaces: study together in a focus room.

Leaving the room resets pins

Heads up: when you leave a focus room, your pins and encouragements for that session reset — that's how sessions work, not a bug. (Premium users can restore recently lost pins from the in-room menu.)

Focus pairs (Premium)

Pairing links your video tile with a friend's so you sit side by side in the grid, joined by a link icon with your partner's name.

Both users need Premium, and both must be in the same room. Invite from the user's tile menu → "Invite to pair"; they get a " wants to pair with you" notice and tap "Accept". If you see "Both users must be in the room to start a pair session" right after one of you joined, wait a moment and try again.
A pair lasts up to 24 hours, or until one of you ends it: hover the link icon on your tile → "End the session" → "Unpair".
One pair at a time — inviting someone new asks you to end the current pair first ("End & Pair"). Accepting an invite after the inviter has already paired with someone else shows "This invite is no longer valid because the person who invited you is already paired."
If your partner left the room, the badge (and its End button) disappears while the pair is still active — either wait for it to expire, or invite someone else and confirm "End & Pair", which ends the old pair.
Don't want invites? Set "Pair invites" in your Privacy settings.

Rooms won't load only on your home network?

If rooms work at university or on mobile data but never load on one specific network, a DNS filter (router setting, Pi-hole, NextDNS and similar) may be blocking our video servers. Allowlist these domains and try again:

prod.studystreamvid.com
studystream.livekit.cloud

Which browser, device or network works best?

There are no strict system requirements, but rooms are video-heavy, so a few things make a real difference:

Browser: Chrome, Edge or Firefox on an up-to-date version. We see more connection problems on Safari (rooms that stay on "connecting" or drop), so if a room won't connect on a Mac or iPad, try Chrome first. Browser extensions that block scripts or trackers, and some antivirus suites, can block the video connection; try an incognito/private window with extensions off. Opera's built-in VPN causes a rejoin loop; switch it off for StudyStream.
Device: an older laptop or tablet copes better with fewer tiles per page and "Join lite". There is no desktop app; the website is the desktop version. Chromebooks that the Play Store calls "not compatible" can use the website in Chrome. Phones without Google services (some Huawei models) can't use the Google sign-in button in the app; the website, or an email-and-password login, works.
Network: school, university and office networks, and some public Wi-Fi, block the video connection. Ask IT to allow prod.studystreamvid.com and studystream.livekit.cloud, or use "Join lite", which gets through more often. A phone hotspot is a quick way to confirm it's the network. VPNs can have the same effect.
Mobile browser vs app: the website works on a phone too, so if the app misbehaves after an update, log in at app.studystream.live in Safari or Chrome while we fix it.

Private rooms

A note on the Pomodoro rooms: they run a fixed, shared 25/5 timer for everyone in the room — it can't be adjusted individually.

Some rooms are private: "This room is private… you can ask the administrator to add you to the list of users allowed to join." Creating your own private group room isn't currently a self-serve feature, but inside any focus room you can create a small pod/private space with friends.

Still can't get in?

If none of the above matches, we'd like to see what's happening. Start a chat with us — at app.studystream.live, or from the StudyStream app — and send:

A screen recording or screenshot of what happens when you try to join
Your device and model (e.g. iPhone 13, Windows 11 laptop)
Your browser (or app version)
The country you're connecting from, and whether you use a VPN