Altar Live Attendee Guide
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Welcome to Altar! Altar can help you engage better with your community through virtual meetings and events. Whether you are excited or perhaps a bit cautious, this guide will help you experience all that Altar and your community has to offer.
Your community will give you a link that takes you to their Altar Landing page which will look something like this:
Featured Events: Here is where you’ll find featured upcoming events you can join, and what time and day they start.
Community Links: These are links your community has placed to help you get around.
Upcoming Events: To find a specific event, scroll down to the section labeled “Upcoming Events”. There you can find the times and dates of all the events your community will be streaming.
Once you find an event or meeting you want to join, go ahead and click on it.
There are three main ways to join an event: from your community's landing page (or “Events and Meetings” screen), from an invite link, and from an email invitation.
When you join an Event on Altar Live, you’ll be able to see all of Altar’s interactive features in the Auditorium.
On the right side of your screen, you’ll see a bar with several icons.
Chats: Here you can chat with everyone at an event, a greeter, or another attendee individually.
People: Want to see who else is at the event? Open the People tab! If there’s someone there you’d like to talk to, you can open a chat with them.
Announcements: You’ll find important information throughout the event under the announcements tab.
Polls: Here you can review and vote on polls throughout the event.
Welcome: Lost? You can get a tour or chat with a greeter here.
You can also turn banner notifications on and off with the bell icon, or leave the meeting using the red button at the bottom of the bar.
Before you can use Altar's interactive features like rows and chat, you'll need to create an account on Altar Live - don't worry, creating an account in Altar Live is easy!
To create an account, Click the “Log In” button on the top of your screen. You can log in using your Google account, Facebook account, or Email address. If you sign in using an email address, we will send you a magic link to your inbox. Just click the link, and you’re good to go!
Tip: You do not have to have an account to join an Event in Altar Live. You can choose to remain anonymous and watch the Event, or chat with a Greeter if you need assistance.
Beneath the livestream, you'll also notice a section full of seats - these are the rows.
Rows allow you and up to three other people to see each other and talk while watching the event. To join a row, just click on an empty seat. You’ll see the other people in the same row pop up on the left side of your screen.
If you want to hide or mute your camera while in a row, you can do so using the camera controls at the bottom of the row panel. You can also leave a row (but not the event) by clicking the red “Leave Row” button.
Your audio and video will not be seen or heard by anyone else in the Event except the people who are seated in the same row as you. You do not have to be seated in a row to watch the livestream.
The Lobby is where you can chat and get to know other members of your community before or after the event! A Host will automatically move you between the Auditorium and the Lobby.
Tables allow you and up to three other people to chat (like in rows). You can switch between tables easily, just like in a fellowship hall or café.
To join a table, click an empty seat. You’ll see the other people around the table on the left side of your screen. If you want to hide or mute yourself, use the video controls bar at the bottom left of the screen. You can also leave a table (but not the event) by either clicking a new seat or the red “Leave Table” button.
Rooms are used for larger groups than what a table can hold. They’re great for prayer, group discussions, and more!
To join a room, click on the "Rooms" tab at the top of the screen. Then, scroll to find the room you want and join.
Once you’re in a room, you’ll be able to use the camera controls at the bottom of the screen to turn on and off your mic, camera and screen-share, and use all the capabilities of a meeting room. To leave, press the red “Leave Call” button on the video control bar to go back to the lobby.
Meetings are virtual rooms where you can see and hear everyone in the room. When you join a meeting, you’ll be asked to sign in. If you don’t have an account yet, you’ll be asked to make one (don’t worry, it’s free).
Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a screen similar to this:
On the bottom of your screen, you’ll see the control bar with the following icons:
Mic: Toggle your microphone on/off, or change the microphone you are using.
Camera: Toggle your camera on/off, or change the camera you are using.
Screenshare: Share what’s on your screen with the rest of the meeting room.
View Toggle: Switch between tile view (see everyone) and speaker view (see who is
speaking).
Performance: Change the quality of the stream (ranging from better performance to higher quality). You can use this to turn the stream quality to better performance if you’re experiencing lag.
Fullscreen: Toggle in/out of Fullscreen mode
More: Here you can find video sharing, audio sharing, background preferences, and general settings.
When you’re ready to leave the meeting, you can press the red “Leave Meeting” button to exit the call.
What technology should I use?
You’ll need a strong internet connection (at least 8.0 Mbps upload, 8.5 Mbps download speeds), and a device with a speaker, microphone, and webcam (either built-in or USB).
Can I use my smartphone or tablet?
Yes, to use Altar as an attendee on a mobile device, you’ll need to use the Altar app. Check out our smartphone guide here.
Which browser should I use?
We recommend using Chrome for the best experience, but Safari and Firefox will work as well.
What if I don’t want to sign in?
If you don’t want to sign in, you remain anonymous and still watch an event live and chat with the event’s greeters. However, you won’t be able to join rows or use other chat features.
We’re here to help you if anything goes wrong! Here are some general troubleshooting tips and tricks:
Refresh the page. Often a quick refresh will re-establish the connection and solve the problem. If this doesn’t work, you can try completely exiting the browser and reconnecting.
Use a different browser. If you’re running into issues, try using a different browser, preferably Chrome.
Restart your device. The device itself might be running into issues. Try restarting your device and connecting again.
Check your permissions. If you can’t use your mic or camera, your browser’s security settings may be blocking them. In Chrome, click the lock icon next to the URL to make sure these permissions are set to “Allow”.
Close duplicate tabs. If you’re already in a meeting in another tab, you might have issues logging in, or hear an echo in your meeting.
Email us at contact@altarlive.com. Our emails are read by real people ready to help.
We’re so glad you and your community have chosen to use Altar, and hope you’ll have a wonderful experience!
Learn how to set up your community, create events and meetings, and other admin features.
Learn how to set up your community, create events and meetings, and other admin features.
Learn how to set up your community, create events and meetings, and other admin features.
Online events that feel just like being in-person.
