Hivetalk July 22, 2026 Stage 2 release - Audience Mode, Reactions & Expandable Menu

Summer '26 Stage 2 release notes#

Audience Mode, Reactions & Expandable Menu

🎭 Audience Mode + Raise Hand

Per-room audience mode toggle. Audience members get canPublish=false, canPublishData=true (they can chat/react but not broadcast audio/video). Stage members (owner/mod/promoted speakers) keep full publish grants. Promote/demote uses LiveKit UpdateParticipant for live grant changes with no reconnect, AND persists stage membership to DB so grants survive reconnect/refresh/token regen. Toggling audience mode mid-room iterates current participants and updates their grants live, with a broadcast data message for immediate UI sync.

✋ Raise Hand

lk.raisehand topic carries { event, participant_identity, pubkey?, display_name? } — LiveKit identity is used for tile mapping and promote actions, pubkey only for profile display. ✋ indicator on tiles + a moderator queue list in RoomControls with "Bring to stage" action. Twitter-Spaces-style layout: stage tiles in grid, audience as a compact avatar strip; verified on small mobile screens.

🎉 Emoji Reactions on Tiles

lk.reactions topic { emoji, participant_identity } renders a floating emoji overlay on the sender's tile that fades over ~4s. Client-side rate-limited. Reuses the EmojiPickerPopover from Stage 1 with a limited reaction set.

⌃ Expandable "^" Vertical Menu

New ExpandableMenu replaces the leave slot in the custom control bar. A chevron "^" expands upward into a vertical list: Raise Hand, Reactions (mini emoji popup), and Leave (red, destructive style). Sits above the video layer and transparent chat layer with top z-index; works within the existing mobile floating pill bar CSS.

special thanks to @buttercup @yeghro Sooly, Tomekk , Reed, Tigs and AJ for helping out with testing

#updates