From zero to your first meeting.

1 Both laptops

What you need

Join From Anywhere connects two laptops that you own or are allowed to use. It helps to know their names before you start.

1. The Host: the laptop that sits in the meeting. It runs the meeting page in Chrome and shows your Client’s camera and microphone to everyone else. It usually stays at your desk.
2. The Client: the laptop you are at. Its camera and microphone go to the Host, and you hear the meeting on it.
3. Google Chrome on both laptops. Windows, macOS and ChromeOS all work. Phones and tablets are not supported yet. A Windows Host can use the desktop app instead of Chrome; see the last section.
4. An internet connection on both. The laptops talk to each other directly where they can; they do not need to be on the same network.

You can add as many Hosts and Clients as you like to one account. Pricing is per Host; Client laptops are free.

2 Any laptop

Create your account

One account is shared by all your laptops. It takes a minute.

1. Open the dashboard at app.joinfromanywhere.com and choose Create account.
2. Enter your email and a password of at least 10 characters. If a friend gave you a referral code, there is a field for it.
3. We email you a 6‑digit code. Enter it on the next screen and you are signed in.
4. No email after a minute? Check spam, then press Send a new code.

3 On the Host

Install the extension

The extension comes from the Chrome Web Store, like any other. If you want new features before they reach the store, the install page also has a beta build.

1. Open the Chrome Web Store page and press Add to Chrome, then Add extension.
2. Pin Join From Anywhere from the puzzle icon in the toolbar so it is one click away.

4 On the Host

Sign in

Click the Join From Anywhere icon in the toolbar. The side panel opens with the sign‑in form.

1. Enter the email and password of the account you just created.
2. The panel remembers you; you will not be asked again on this laptop.

5 On the Host

Name this laptop

The first time you sign in, a short setup runs. Step 1 asks for a name.

1. Pick something you will recognise in a list, like "Work laptop" or "Desk PC".
2. You can rename it later in Settings or on the dashboard.

6 On the Host

Choose Host

Step 2 asks what this laptop does.

1. Choose Host · joins the meeting.
2. Press Continue.

7 On the Host

Your Host code

Step 3 shows this laptop’s code. It stays the same for as long as the laptop is on your account, so you can write it down once. You only need it if you set up the Client by code rather than by name.

1. Leave the panel open and set up your Client (next section). On the Client you pick this laptop from a list, or type the code.
2. Press Continue and come back later if you like; the Host keeps waiting in the background and connects on its own.
3. Shared the code with someone you should not have? Press New code. Clients that picked this laptop by name are not affected.

8 On the Client

Install and sign in

Repeat the install (step 3) on this laptop and sign in with the same account.

1. Name the laptop at step 1, for example "MacBook Air".
2. At step 2 choose Client · camera and mic.

9 On the Client

Allow camera and microphone

Step 3 asks Chrome for permission to use your camera and microphone.

1. Press Allow camera and mic. Chrome shows its own prompt; choose Allow.
2. Dismissed the prompt by mistake? Click the camera icon in Chrome’s address bar, allow it there, then press the button again.
3. Pick the camera and microphone you want to use. You can change them later.

10 On the Client

Connect to your Host

Step 4 lists the Host laptops on your account. Pick the one that sits in the meeting, or type the code shown on it.

1. With one Host on the account it is chosen for you. With several, tap the right one. Offline Hosts connect as soon as their extension opens.
2. No Host in the list yet? Type the code from the Host’s screen into the Host’s code field and press Connect with code.
3. When the Host shows up as Connected, press Done. You can change Host later from "Joining from" on the home screen.

Both panels now show the other laptop by name. The Host says Ready; the Client says Ready with a Go live button.

11 On the Client

Go live from the Client

When the Host is in a meeting, or about to be, start sending your camera and microphone.

1. Press Go live. It is only available once the Host is connected; the preview shows what the meeting will see.
2. Use the round camera and microphone buttons on the preview to turn either off without stopping.
3. Press Stop when you are done. The meeting sees a dark camera tile until you go live again.

12 On the Host

Pick Join From Anywhere in the meeting

In the meeting page on the Host, choose Join From Anywhere Camera and Join From Anywhere Microphone as your devices. Each meeting app remembers the choice.

1. Google Meet: Click ⋮ › Settings, Open Video and Audio, Choose Join From Anywhere for camera and microphone.
2. Microsoft Teams (web): Click ⋯ › Settings › Devices, Set Camera and Microphone, Choose Join From Anywhere in both.
3. Zoom (web): Click the arrow next to Start Video, Pick Join From Anywhere Camera, Do the same next to Mute.

Until the Client is live, the meeting sees a plain dark tile with a camera symbol instead of a frozen picture.

13 On the Host

Hear the meeting on the Client

The Host can send the meeting’s audio to the Client. Chrome only allows this after you click the extension on the meeting tab once.

1. Go to the meeting tab on the Host.
2. Click the Join From Anywhere icon in Chrome’s toolbar (behind the puzzle icon unless you pinned it). That click gives Chrome permission to hear the tab.
3. In the panel, under Meeting audio, switch on Share meeting audio to Client.
4. On the Client, Meeting audio shows "Hearing the meeting" with a volume slider and an output picker. Headphones avoid echo.

14 Both laptops

Next time

The laptops stay signed in and connected to each other.

1. Host: open the meeting in Chrome. The panel shows Connected to server and your code, and says Ready as soon as the Client connects.
2. Client: open the panel. It connects to your Host on its own; press Go live once the Host is attached.
3. Closed the panel? Click the toolbar icon to open it again. Nothing stops while it is closed.

15 Both laptops

Settings worth knowing

Open Settings from the menu in the panel’s top right corner.

1. Name in meeting apps: what the meeting lists as your camera and microphone. The default is "Join From Anywhere"; use anything you like.
2. Default camera, microphone and meeting audio output for the Client.
3. Host code (Host): the code shown to Clients, with a New code button if you ever need a fresh one.
4. Joining from (Client): which Host this laptop connects to. Change it here or from the home screen.
5. Remove this device: forget this laptop. You can set it up again at any time.

16 Any laptop

Credits

Every account starts with 15 free minutes of meetings, on the first Host you use. After that, meetings use credits (1 credit = $1, 25 credits an hour) or a subscription on that Host.

1. Credits are used only while the Client is live and sending camera or microphone to a connected Host, billed per minute. Setup, waiting, the dark tile and reconnecting use nothing.
2. Both panels warn you when about 30 minutes of credits remain, with a button to buy more. Buy credits or subscribe on the Billing page of the dashboard.
3. When the credits run out the session ends and the meeting sees the dark tile. Buy credits and press Go live again to continue.

1 On the Host

Install it on the Host

The desktop app replaces the extension on the Host. It installs a real camera, "Join From Anywhere Camera", that every program on that computer can pick.

1. Download the Windows installer from the install page and run it. Accept the administrator prompt; it is needed once, to register the camera.
2. Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" during the beta because the installer is not signed yet. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
3. The app opens its panel and sits in the tray. Sign in, name the laptop and choose Host, exactly as with the extension. The panel shows the Host code.
4. From now on the app starts with Windows in the tray, so the camera is ready before your meeting. Settings, or the tray menu, can switch that off.

Your Client can keep using the Chrome extension, on Windows or a Mac. Pairing and credits are the same.

2 On the Host

Add the microphone cable

Windows lets only a signed driver create a microphone. Ours is being signed; until then the app sends your voice through a free virtual audio cable.

1. Install VB-CABLE from vb-audio.com/Cable on the Host (one installer, administrator prompt, no reboot needed on most machines).
2. Restart Join From Anywhere. The panel’s "Devices on this computer" card changes from "Microphone cable not found" to "Microphone via CABLE Input".
3. Nothing else to configure: the app plays your Client’s voice into the cable, never through the Host’s speakers.

3 On the Host

Pick the devices in the meeting

In the meeting program, choose the camera and the microphone once; most programs remember the choice.

1. Camera: "Join From Anywhere Camera". Zoom: Settings, Video. Teams: Settings, Devices. Webex: Settings, Video. In a browser: the meeting’s own camera menu.
2. Microphone: "CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)", in the same settings pages. The panel lists both names under "Pick these in your meeting" with a copy button.
3. Meeting audio to your Client: turn on "Share meeting audio to Client" in the panel. Everything the Host plays reaches the Client; there is no picker and nothing to click in the meeting.
4. Before your Client goes live, the meeting sees the grey Away slate from the camera, so you can set everything up in advance.

A laptop with Smart App Control on refuses unsigned software, including our camera, until the signed release. Use the extension on such a machine for now.