Video meetings

Scheduling a meeting

Schedule meeting lists only your own enquiries that can take a new meeting, each with the other person in it. The invitation always goes to that person — you cannot invite anyone else. If you have no enquiry yet, send one about an advertisement or answer a Services request first.

Each meeting has a short title from what it is about and the suburb, such as "Rental discussion — Googong" or "Solar consultation — Belconnen". It never shows a street address. If an advertisement is no longer shown to you, the title just says "property enquiry".

Meetings are arranged between the two people in an enquiry: for a property (Rent, Share, Parking or Lease Transfer), the person who enquired and the advertiser; for Services, the customer and the provider who responded to their request. Choose a date from the calendar, a start time as hour, minutes (5-minute steps) and AM or PM, a time zone and a length from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Before you save, the form shows the meeting time with its time zone name (for example AEDT), and tells you if the time is too soon. A property enquiry can be a "Video inspection" or a "Video discussion"; a Services enquiry is a "Video discussion".

Good to know: When a Services enquiry is closed (for example, the provider withdrew), no new meetings can be scheduled and the time of an existing meeting can no longer be changed. A meeting already arranged stays as it is unless it is cancelled.

• You cannot schedule a time in the past or more than 180 days ahead.
• If either of you already has a meeting at that time, choose another time.
• Selecting the button twice does not create two meetings.

Time zones and daylight saving

A meeting is saved in the time zone you choose (Canberra uses Australia/Sydney) and is always shown with that time zone's name, such as AEDT or AWST. If the time zone is not Canberra's, the Canberra time is shown as well.

Good to know: On the days the clocks change, a time that does not exist (when clocks go forward) or happens twice (when clocks go back) cannot be chosen — pick another time. The meeting-time preview below the form explains this before you save.

Accepting or declining

If you were invited, open the meeting and choose Accept or Decline. If the organiser changes the time, you are asked to accept again. If you decline, you cannot join that meeting.

Finding and answering invitations

When someone invites you, the meeting appears under Meetings in "Waiting for your answer", and with a "Your answer needed" label in the conversation. Open it and choose Accept or Decline. You can change your answer later with "Change to decline" or "Change to accept".

Good to know: Invitations and answers always appear under Meetings in PlaceNest. Where e-mail is available, PlaceNest also sends an e-mail about them (see "E-mail notifications" below). No text message or push notification is sent.

E-mail notifications

PlaceNest sends an e-mail to the e-mail address on your PlaceNest account when you are invited to a meeting, when the organiser changes the time (you are asked to accept again), and when the organiser cancels it. If you scheduled the meeting, you get an e-mail when the other person accepts or declines.

Each e-mail shows the meeting's short title, the time in Canberra time (and in the meeting's own time zone if that is different), the length and who it is with — never a street address or contact details.

Important: The button in the e-mail opens the meeting in PlaceNest. You need to sign in first; accepting, declining and joining happen in PlaceNest, never from the e-mail itself. Join opens 10 minutes before the start.

Meeting e-mails are on unless you switched them off in your communication preferences. With them off, invitations and answers still appear under Meetings.

Changing the time or cancelling

Only the person who scheduled the meeting can change its time or cancel it. To cancel, tick the confirmation box and select Cancel meeting. A cancelled meeting cannot be joined or changed; schedule a new one if needed.

Joining

The Join button appears from 10 minutes before the start until 15 minutes after the end. Only the two people in the conversation can open a meeting; anyone else sees "not found".

Important: Video calls are not available everywhere yet. Where they are not switched on, Join does not start a call — use Messages to arrange how to talk.

Where video calls are switched on, Join opens the call page. Your browser asks to use your camera and microphone; if you say no, you can still see and hear the other person. The call connects directly between your two devices and is encrypted in transit. Use Mute, Turn camera off and Leave call at any time.

Select Devices in the call to choose your camera, microphone and — where your browser allows it — speaker. The input level bar moves when your microphone picks up sound, and Play test sound plays a short tone on the chosen speaker. If no sound reaches your microphone for a while, the call shows a reminder to check it. The level is measured on your device only; it is never sent or recorded.

Connection details show how the call travels: directly between the two devices, or through the PlaceNest relay (also when only one of the two devices needs it). Just after connecting it says "Checking connection", and if the other device does not report its route it says the route is unknown rather than guessing.

Some workplace or public networks block direct connections. If the call stays on "Connecting…", try another network (for example your phone's hotspot), or message the other person to agree another way to talk.

Moving around PlaceNest during a call

Where video calls are switched on, your call keeps running when you open another PlaceNest page. A small player appears in the corner of the page, where you can mute, turn your camera off, stop sharing your screen, return to the full call or leave. A screen you are sharing keeps being shared.

Important: Refreshing the page, opening a page that reloads the whole site (some security steps do this), leaving PlaceNest in the same tab or closing the tab ends your part of the call. Refreshing the call page rejoins the call. From anywhere else, join again from the meeting page.

If sound or video stops arriving, the call says so, for example "Connected, but no sound is arriving". "Direct" only describes the route the call takes: it does not mean sound and video are arriving. If your camera or microphone stops, PlaceNest tries to restart it, and the other person sees "camera off" or "muted" until it is back.

On iPhone and iPad, leaving the browser for another app pauses your camera and microphone. When you come back, PlaceNest restarts them and reconnects where it can. If your camera does not start on an iPhone, open Settings, then your browser (Safari or Chrome), allow Camera and Microphone, and select Try again in the call.

Sharing your screen

Important: Screen sharing works only during a video call, and video calls are not available everywhere yet.

Good to know: On iPhone and iPad, where your browser offers screen sharing at all, it works only while the browser stays open on PlaceNest. Switching to another app stops the share for both of you. To show other apps, use a computer.

In a call, "Share your screen" asks your browser which entire screen, application window or browser tab to share; your browser always asks first, and the other person sees what you share until you select Stop sharing (or stop it from your browser). Only one person can present at a time. PlaceNest never records your screen.

• Close private windows or documents before you share.
• On a Mac, your browser may need permission under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.
• Phones and tablets generally cannot share a screen from the browser.

Sharing your phone or e-mail

Your phone number and e-mail are not shown to the other person unless you choose to share them. To share, open the meeting, enter a phone number, an e-mail address or both under "Share your contact details", tick the box and select Share my details. Select Stop sharing at any time to remove them.

What you share is shown only to the other person in that enquiry — on its meetings and in the Seeker and Provider columns of Meetings — and never on public pages. Each enquiry is separate: sharing in one does not share in another. Your own side always shows your account reference (USR-…); the other person's reference is shown only after they share their details.

Adding a meeting to your calendar

Select "Add to calendar (.ics)" on the meeting to download a calendar file that works with most calendar apps. Your calendar shows the time in your own time zone. Download it again after a change of time or a cancellation to update your calendar. Automatic Google or Microsoft calendar connections are not available yet.

Privacy and recording

• PlaceNest does not record meetings and keeps no audio, video, chat or notes from them — only the meeting time, who was invited and their answers.
• Meetings are visible only to the two people involved.
• When the two devices cannot connect directly, the call may pass through PlaceNest's relay server. The call stays encrypted end to end — the relay cannot see, hear or record it; it handles only network addresses and timing to pass the call along. Relay time is limited per person each day.
• Do not share passwords, bank details or documents during a call.

Good to know: PlaceNest cannot stop someone recording their own screen or device. Ask before recording anyone.

If something goes wrong

Join is not available

It opens 10 minutes before the start. It is also unavailable if the meeting was cancelled, has ended, or you declined it.

The other person does not join

Message them in the conversation. PlaceNest does not mark anyone as absent.

Video fails to start

Try again after a minute, then message the other person to agree another way to talk.

• Contacting Support