You always see where you are going first
When you open a VoiceLink invite, from an email, a link someone sent you, or an invite that arrives as a VoiceLink message or notification, VoiceLink first shows a confirmation screen. Nothing is joined until you choose Continue.
If you are already signed in to the VoiceLink web app, an invite sent to your account opens this screen right inside the app. You don't need to open a link in a browser. If you are in a room at the time, VoiceLink doesn't interrupt you: it tells you about the invite, and you can open it later from Notifications with the Review invite button.
What the screen says, in reading order
- The question, as a heading, for example "Join General Chat on VoiceLink Community?". Focus starts here when the screen opens.
- A summary: who invited you, to which room on which server, who runs that server and whether that owner is verified, and the message they wrote, if any.
- Before you continue: anything you should know, for example that the owner is not verified, that you need to sign in first, that the room has a password (your invite lets you in without it), or that the invite expires within the hour.
- The buttons: Continue, Not now and Report.
- About this server and invite: server name, owner, location, description, people in public rooms now, number of public rooms, trust, identity check, identity fingerprint, who invited you, the room, who the invite is for, when it expires, whether the room has a password and whether you need an account.
The screen never shows web addresses. It names the server and its owner instead.
The buttons
- Continue
- Joins. For a room invite you go to that room's join screen (type your name if you are a guest, then Join Room). If the invite needs an account, the button says "Sign in and continue". In My VoiceLink, Continue opens the VoiceLink web app on the same server and doesn't ask again.
- Not now
- Closes the screen without joining. Escape does the same. The invite still works, so you can open it again later until it expires.
- Report
- Opens a short form: choose what is wrong (for example "I did not expect this invite" or "Looks like a scam or impersonation") and add a note if you like, then Send report. The report goes privately to that server's owners and admins. You don't join anything.
Verified, trust and the identity fingerprint
- Owner verified means the owner was confirmed by VoiceLink: the server was set up through the Client Portal, its owner claimed it with an owner code, or it is one of the official VoiceLink servers. "Not verified" means the name was typed in by whoever runs the server.
- Trust: Verified by VoiceLink means the server is in VoiceLink's official server list. Other servers say who they are themselves.
- Identity check: every VoiceLink server has its own signing key and signs a short description of itself. "Checks out" means the description really came from that server and nobody changed it on the way. Where your browser can, it checks this itself too.
- Identity fingerprint is a short code for the server's key, in 8 groups of 4 letters and numbers. When you choose Continue, this browser remembers it. If the same server later shows a different fingerprint, you get a warning that its identity key has changed. That can happen after the server is reinstalled, but it can also mean someone is pretending to be it; ask the person who invited you if you're not sure.
Keyboard and screen readers
- The screen is a dialog. Focus starts on its heading, so the question is read first, then you can read on with the arrow keys or Tab to the buttons.
- The warnings have their own level 3 heading, "Before you continue", and so do the details.
- Escape is the same as Not now, and puts you back where you were.
- Results, such as "Your report was sent", are read out once through a status message in the dialog.
Invite links
These all open the same confirmation screen:
https://your-server/client/?invite=vli_...opens the web app.https://your-server/join/vli_...is the short form of the same link.https://your-server/client/portal/?invite=vli_...opens it in My VoiceLink.voicelink://invite/vli_...?server=...&sid=...opens the VoiceLink app on Mac or iPhone. The apps are getting the same confirmation screen in their next updates.
Invite links only ever send you to the server that made them. See Inviting people for how to make invites, and My VoiceLink for the web portal.