Help & FAQ

Is Social Karaoke free?

Social Karaoke is free. Hosting a room requires a free account, joining a room does not, and there is no paid tier, trial period, or limit on how many songs or rooms you get. There are no ads.

What is Social Karaoke?

Social Karaoke is a free, browser-based group karaoke app. One person hosts a room on a shared screen, friends join from their phones with a 4-letter code, and everyone adds YouTube songs to a single shared queue that plays in order on the host screen.

Do I need to download an app?

No. Social Karaoke runs entirely in a web browser on both the host screen and guest phones. There is nothing to install on any device, and no app store account is involved.

How do I host my first room?

Sign in at Social Karaoke, tap Host, and open the room on the screen everyone will watch. The app gives you a 4-letter room code and a QR code to share, and guests can start adding songs as soon as they join. Setup takes under a minute.

What devices can I host on?

You can host on any device with a modern web browser - a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, a phone, or a smart TV browser. Whatever you host on becomes the screen everyone watches, so pick the biggest one in the room.

Can I host from my phone?

Yes. There is no device restriction on hosting, so a phone works as the stage if that is all you have. Two caveats: the tab has to stay open and in the foreground, so locking the phone or switching apps will pause playback, and a phone screen is small for a room full of people. A laptop or TV makes a better stage whenever one is available.

How do I do karaoke on my smart TV?

Open Social Karaoke in your smart TV's built-in browser and host the room there, or host on a laptop and connect it to the TV with an HDMI cable or by casting. Both work the same way from the guests' side - they still join from their phones with the room code.

Do I need a microphone?

No. Most Social Karaoke parties just sing over the top of the audio playing on the host screen. A microphone and speaker set makes it louder and more fun, but nothing in the app requires one.

Do my friends need an account?

No. Guests join by entering the 4-letter room code or scanning the QR code and picking a nickname. There is no sign-up, no email, and no password for guests.

How do people join my room?

Every Social Karaoke room has a 4-letter code and a QR code. Friends type the code on the Join page or scan the QR with their phone camera, choose a nickname, and they are in.

Where do I find the room code?

The 4-letter room code and QR code are displayed on the host screen. If they are hidden during playback, the host can bring them back up from the room controls at any time.

How many people can join one room?

There is no fixed limit on how many people can join a Social Karaoke room. The only hard cap is the queue itself, which holds 200 unplayed songs at a time.

Can I join from a laptop instead of a phone?

Yes. The join page works in any browser, so guests can join from a laptop or tablet as well as a phone. Phones are just the most convenient remote when everyone is in the same room.

Can people join from a different house?

Yes. Guests only need the room code, so they can be anywhere. Keep in mind that the audio and video play on the host screen, so remote guests will hear the music through whatever call you have running rather than through the app itself.

What songs can we play?

Anything on YouTube. Search for the karaoke, instrumental, or lyric version of a song and add it to the shared queue.

Is this a licensed karaoke library like KaraFun or Smule?

No. Social Karaoke is not a licensed karaoke-track library. Services like KaraFun and Smule license their own recordings and give you a curated catalogue, while Social Karaoke plays whatever karaoke and instrumental versions already exist on YouTube. That means a far bigger pool of songs with less consistency in quality.

How do I find a good karaoke version of a song?

Search the song title followed by "karaoke" or "instrumental" and check the result before adding it. Dedicated karaoke channels usually produce the most reliable backing tracks with on-screen lyrics, and a lyric video is a decent fallback for songs with no karaoke version at all.

Our guide to finding good karaoke versions on YouTube covers the search terms, the channels worth trusting, and how to spot a bad track in five seconds.

Why is a song unavailable?

Some YouTube videos are blocked in certain countries or restricted from playing in embedded players. Social Karaoke checks availability for your region and rejects those videos before they reach the queue, whether you add them one at a time or in bulk. If a song still fails at playback, the room automatically swaps in a playable karaoke alternative instead of stalling.

Can I add several songs at once?

Yes, in two ways. You can paste multiple links to add up to 25 songs in one action, or import a YouTube playlist to add up to 100 songs at once. Both sit under the room-wide ceiling of 200 unplayed songs.

Can I import a YouTube playlist?

Yes. You can import a YouTube playlist straight into a room's queue, up to the first 100 songs in it, which is the fastest way to start a night with a full lineup. Public and unlisted playlists both work. Private playlists cannot be imported, and neither can auto-generated mixes or radio playlists.

Who can add songs to the queue?

Everyone in the room can add songs to the shared queue. Each entry shows who added it, and the host and co-hosts can reorder or remove anything.

Can I reorder the queue?

Only the host and co-hosts can reorder the queue. Guests can add songs but cannot move them, including their own, so the running order stays under the control of whoever is running the night.

What happens when a song ends?

The next song in the queue starts automatically. By default it plays immediately with no gap, and the host can set a countdown of up to 60 seconds instead if the room wants a breather between numbers.

Can I skip a song?

Skipping the song that is currently playing is a majority vote. Any participant can vote to skip, and the room advances as soon as more than half the people in it have voted - two votes in a three-person room, three in a five-person room. Hosts and co-hosts can skip instantly without a vote, and the host can turn voting off entirely.

There is no self-skip: the person who added a song cannot cut it short mid-play just because they queued it.

Can I remove a song I added by mistake?

Yes, as long as it has not started playing. You can remove your own entry from the queue whether you are signed in or joined as a guest, and hosts and co-hosts can remove anything.

What happens when the queue runs out?

Playback stops and the host screen waits for the next song to be added. Anyone in the room can add one at any time to start it again.

Can someone help me run the room?

Yes. You can promote a trusted guest to co-host so they can manage the queue and playback while you are up singing, including reordering, removing songs, skipping, and issuing kicks and timeouts.

What can a co-host not do?

Co-hosts cannot change room settings, promote other co-hosts, archive the room, or transfer it - those stay with the host. They also cannot kick or time out the host or another co-host, so only the host can restrict someone they have promoted.

What happens if the host leaves or their device dies?

The room itself survives, because it lives on the server rather than in the host's browser. The queue, the chat, and everyone in the room stay put until the room expires.

Playback stops, though, since the host's screen is what actually plays the video. After about five minutes without the host, guests see a notice that the host is away.

A co-host can then claim the room, and their screen becomes the new stage. This only works if a co-host was promoted beforehand - if there isn't one, nobody can take over and the room waits for the host to return. Promote a co-host early in the night as insurance.

Can I hand the room to someone else before I leave?

Yes. Host transfer passes control to another person directly, which is cleaner than letting the five-minute takeover timer run. Do this if you know you are leaving while the party continues.

How do I stop strangers joining my room?

Set a join PIN so only people you share it with can enter, or turn on knock-to-join so you approve each new arrival before they get in. Both are useful when the room code might travel further than you intended, like at an office party.

How do I remove someone from the room?

Hosts and co-hosts can put a guest in a timeout for 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes, or kick them from the room entirely. A timeout is a full temporary restriction: the person can stay and watch, but cannot add songs, use the chat, or cast skip votes until it expires.

Can I remove a song someone else added?

Hosts and co-hosts can remove any song from the queue. Guests can only remove their own entries.

Is there a chat?

Yes. Rooms include a chat and reactions, so people can call out requests and react to a performance without shouting over the music. Chat lives in the room only and does not appear in the archived history after the room ends.

Can I save favorite songs?

Yes. Signed-in users can favorite songs so they are easy to find again in a later room.

Can I build a playlist?

Yes. You can build playlists from your dashboard and load a whole playlist into a fresh room in one step, which turns setup for a repeat karaoke night into a few seconds of work.

How long does a room last?

Social Karaoke rooms stay active for up to 24 hours and then archive automatically. The archive is a read-only record of what was played and who added it.

Can I see rooms I hosted before?

Yes. Past rooms are kept in your hosting history as a read-only record you can revisit, showing what was played and who added it.

Who can see my room history?

You choose, per room, from five visibility settings on the room history page: Public (anyone with the link), Friends (your followers only), Participants (logged-in people who were in the room), Friends & Participants, or Private (only you). While a room is live there is a simpler on/off switch for public history, and the full five-way choice is available afterwards on the archived room.

Can I follow other people?

Yes. Profiles let you follow other hosts and see the rooms they have chosen to make public.

How do I sign up?

You can create an account with an email address and password, or sign in with Google or Discord. An account is only needed for hosting, favorites, playlists, and history.

Do you show ads?

No. Social Karaoke carries no advertising and no ad tracking of any kind.

Do you use tracking cookies?

No. The only cookie Social Karaoke sets is the essential one that keeps you signed in, and the visitor analytics are cookieless. That is why there is no cookie banner on the site.

What data do you store about guests?

If you join a room as a guest, Social Karaoke stores the nickname you choose and a random session identifier for that room. Nothing else, and no account is needed.

Room chat is only visible inside the live room. It is not carried into the archived history, so once a room ends nobody can go back and read it. Chat and activity records are held in the database for about six months for operational purposes and then removed. Rooms themselves stay active for up to 24 hours before archiving into a read-only history of what was played. Full details are in the Privacy Policy.

How do I delete my account?

You can delete your account from your account settings, which removes the personal data associated with it. You can also edit or remove your profile information at any time without deleting the account. See the Privacy Policy for full details.

A song will not play. What do I do?

Remove it from the queue and add a different version of the same song. Videos can be blocked in your country or restricted from playing in embedded players, and the same track is usually available from another uploader.

The video is playing but there is no sound.

Check the volume on the host device and on the screen it is connected to, since Social Karaoke plays all audio through the host screen rather than through guests' phones. Browsers also sometimes start a tab muted, so check the mute indicator on the browser tab itself.

Will the host screen go to sleep during the party?

Social Karaoke keeps the host screen awake while a song is playing, using your browser's built-in wake lock. That has limits: it only holds during playback, it needs a browser that supports the feature, and it only works while the tab is in the foreground. For a long night, plug the host device in and turn off auto-sleep in its system settings as a backstop.

My friends cannot join with the code.

Check that they are entering the current room's 4-letter code, and that you have not left knock-to-join or a join PIN switched on. A room code only works while that room is live - once it ends, the code is freed and may later belong to a different room entirely. Archived rooms are reached through their own permanent history link, not the 4-letter code.

The queue is not updating on my phone.

Refresh the page. Social Karaoke keeps everyone in sync automatically, but a phone that has been asleep or off signal for a while may need one reload to catch up.