Voice intercom

Every channel can be a party-line intercom: join voice, hold the button, talk. The voice server runs inside the box, so it works with no internet — but browsers have one rule about microphones that you should know before show day.

Join and leave

The headset button in a channel's header joins that channel's voice. A bar appears above the app — it stays with you while you move around channels and modules — showing who's on the line, with a dot per person that lights while they speak. The Leave button on the bar hangs up.

If the headset button isn't there at all, this box doesn't have voice configured.

Push-to-talk

• Hold the big button to talk; release to go quiet. It reads HOLD when idle and LIVE with a level halo while you're transmitting — if the halo doesn't move, your mic isn't picking you up.
• The lock button latches your mic open — for gloved hands or a long explanation. Tap again to release. The bar shows everyone whose mic is open, so a stuck latch is visible to the whole line.
• A "🔊" pill names whoever is speaking right now.

Audio settings

The gear on the voice bar picks your microphone and speaker. The mic picker has a live level meter — "say something, the bar should move; if not, pick another mic". On iPhones the speaker is routed by the system: switch outputs in Control Centre or your Bluetooth settings.

The HTTPS rule (read before show day)

Browsers refuse to hand a microphone to a page served over plain http:// — a browser security rule, not a crewbox choice. On a plain-HTTP box you can still join voice and hear everything, but you'll be listen-only: the bar says so, and the talk button won't transmit.

Ways around it:

• The Android and iOS apps are exempt — they use the phone's own mic permission and work over plain HTTP.
• The box's operator can give the box a certificate — HTTPS, names and certificates is the recipe — which also unlocks installing the web app to home screens.
• The machine running the box is always fine at localhost.

Reconnection

Voice rides the same weather as everything else: if the connection drops, the bar shows "Voice reconnecting…" and rejoins by itself. If you were transmitting when it dropped, the mic is released — nobody gets stuck live without knowing it.