No sound, or the video sits on a play button

Click or press OK on the karaoke screen once. TV and desktop browsers block unmuted autoplay until there is a gesture. If that does nothing, the TV browser may not support the YouTube embed — HDMI a laptop and start a new screen there.

Search returns nothing, or only odd videos

Empty search usually means the server cannot talk to the YouTube Data API. Paste a YouTube URL from your own phone browser instead; the screen can still play it. Odd results (live concerts, “hour of rain”) mean the query was too vague — add “karaoke” and the artist name, or pick a video you already opened.

Screen ID not found

The karaoke tab must stay open. If you refreshed the home page and started again, you have a new code. Idle rooms are removed after a day without activity. Double-check letters that look like numbers when someone types the code by hand.

Guests cannot open the site on venue Wi-Fi

Captive portals (hotel, café, some offices) need each phone to accept the login page before any site loads. The TV can be online while phones are not. A personal hotspot for remotes is a fine backup; the screen device still needs its own working connection to YouTube.

The wrong person is listed as singer

Display names are whatever the guest typed on that add. They can add again with a clearer name. There is no global profile. If the intro shows a blank name, they skipped the field — the song still plays.

A song will not leave the “now playing” slot

Use Skip or Next on the karaoke screen. If the YouTube player errors (video unavailable, embedding disabled), skip immediately and pick another upload. karaokemo cannot override YouTube’s embedding rules.

It looks frozen after a song ends

After a track, the screen can show a short playful score, then an “Up next” card for about ten seconds, and sometimes a stage promo if one is configured. That is the gap for applause. If a YouTube error is sitting under that chrome, skip. If the TV went to a screensaver, wake it and click the player once.

Two Screen IDs in the same house

Starting a screen twice (two tabs, two TVs, or someone who hit Start on their phone) creates two rooms. Guests who typed the code on the wall will not see songs added to the other tab. Close the extra screen, keep one ID, and have everyone rejoin if needed.

The phone remote is fine; the TV is not

If guests can search and add but the big display is silent, frozen, or stuck on a play icon, the room is working. The screen device is not. Unlock autoplay with one OK on that device, wake the screensaver, or HDMI a laptop. Do not restart everyone’s remotes. Recreating the Screen ID because the TV slept will strand the queue people already built.

The inverse also happens: TV plays, phones cannot search. Paste a YouTube URL. Search is a convenience on our server, not the playback path. Playback is the embed on the screen. Those two failures look similar in a dark living room and they are not.

An ad plays in the middle of a karaoke video

That is YouTube’s ad inside the upload, not a karaokemo overlay. We do not place ads on karaoke screens or remotes. You cannot skip YouTube’s ad from a guest phone. Wait, lower the TV volume, or skip the whole track if the upload is unusable. Fighting the player will not “turn ads off” for that video.

The queue on phones does not match the TV

Remotes poll the same room as the screen. If phones look stale, check that everyone joined the current Screen ID (a restarted screen gets a new code). Ask one guest to add a test song; if the TV updates and other phones do not, those phones need a refresh or a better network.

Still stuck

Walk through How it works once with a test room before guests arrive. For TV-specific setup, use the smart TV guide. You can also write us from the contact form — include the TV type and whether search or playback failed.