Run your recording-day lineup — free, from your phone
On a back-to-back recording day, the running order is what keeps the session on the rails. Build the lineup for the day, drop each guest into their slot, and hand every one of them a private link showing when they're up and how long until then. The running order is free — no signup, no per-guest fees. Booking guests onto specific future dates lives on a paid plan.
The podcast-specific problems we solve
- A clear running order for the day. Line up every guest for the recording session in order, so you always know who's in the chair and who's on deck.
- Each guest knows their slot. Every guest gets a private link to their place in the lineup and an estimated time until they're up, so they arrive warmed up instead of early and idle.
- Reorder when a session runs long. A conversation that goes deep pushes everyone back — slide the lineup with a drag and each guest's link updates their wait automatically.
- Notes on every guest. Keep talking points, mic level, or a pronunciation note as a per-person note so you and your producer are prepped before they sit down.
- Separate lineups per studio or show. Recording two shows or running two rooms? Keep several running orders going and switch between them instantly.
- You and your producer stay in sync. The whole crew sees the same lineup update in real time, so nobody's chasing a guest who's already been moved.
How it's different from Calendly, a spreadsheet, or DMs
Calendly is great for booking a single future slot, but on recording day it does nothing for the live running order — it can't tell a guest they're now third because the second interview ran long. A spreadsheet is static: you're rebuilding it every time the order shifts, and no guest can see it. DMs scatter the plan across five threads, and the moment things slip, everyone's messaging you at once asking where they stand.
This is built for the live lineup. The running order updates as the day moves, each guest watches their own slot on their own phone, and reordering is a drag — not a rebuild. Your producer sees the same list you do.
It also keeps working if the studio connection drops. The app is a PWA that runs offline on your phone, so a dead network never freezes your lineup mid-session.
Common setups
Back-to-back interview day
Build one running order for the day's guests, drop them in order, and send each a private link to their slot. As sessions run long or short, reorder and every guest's estimated time shifts automatically.
Live-event or on-location recording
At a conference booth or event, guests self-add from a link or QR to join the lineup, and you reorder for pacing. Everyone sees their slot on their own phone without crowding the setup.
Multi-show studio
Run a separate running order for each show or room. Switch between lineups in a tap so guests and crew never end up on the wrong list.
Free vs paid — what you get
The running order for a recording day is free: building the lineup, private links to each guest's slot and estimated time, self-add by link or QR, reordering, multiple lineups, real-time crew sync, a display board, per-person notes, and offline mode. You can also text guests yourself from your own phone at no cost. Two things are on a paid plan: the reservations calendar for booking guests onto specific future dates, and managed, automated reminders — where the app sends confirmation and "you're up next" messages for you from a business number. The free part is the live running order; the paid part is calendar booking plus automated reminders.
Podcast guest FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes — the recording-day running order is genuinely free, with no signup and no per-guest charge. Building the lineup, private slot links, self-add, reordering, multiple lineups, notes, and offline mode all cost nothing. The reservations calendar for booking future dates and managed, automated reminders are on a paid plan.
Do guests need to download anything?
No. Each guest opens a private link in their normal phone browser to see their slot and how long until they're up. There's no app to install and no account for them to create.
Does it work without Wi-Fi?
Yes. The app is a PWA that keeps running offline on your phone, so if the studio connection drops you can still manage the lineup and reorder guests.
Can guests add themselves?
Yes. Share a link or QR and guests add themselves to the running order — handy for live events and on-location recordings where you're not at a desk.
What's the difference between the running order and the reservations calendar?
The running order is the free live lineup for a single recording day — who's up and in what order. The reservations calendar, on a paid plan, is for booking guests onto specific future dates in advance, with managed automated reminders.
Try it on your next recording day
The best way to understand how the app fits into your workflow is to run it alongside your next session — even a small one. You don't need to overhaul how you schedule guests or abandon the tools you already use. Start with a single recording day, load in your guest list, and see how the live queue view changes the feel of the room.
A realistic first session
Most hosts who try the app for the first time do it on a day they already have three or four guests booked. They're not testing software — they're just recording. That's exactly the right approach. Open the app before your first guest arrives, add each name to the running order, and leave it on a tablet or secondary phone where you or a producer can glance at it between takes.
By the end of that session, you'll have a clear sense of which features you actually need. Some hosts immediately turn on the guest self-check-in link so people can mark themselves arrived from the waiting area. Others find the simple drag-to-reorder queue is the only thing they needed all along.
What to set up before guests arrive
A useful pre-session checklist looks something like this:
- Build your running order — add guests in the order you plan to record, with any buffer slots between interviews noted as placeholders
- Set expected durations — even rough estimates (30 minutes, 45 minutes) give the live timeline something to project from
- Share the guest-facing link — if guests are travelling to you, send them the read-only status link in your confirmation message so they can see where they sit in the lineup
- Download for offline use — if your studio has patchy connectivity, open the app on your device while you still have a signal so the session data is cached locally
Adjusting on the fly
Recording days rarely go to plan. A guest runs long. Another arrives early. Someone calls to say they're stuck in traffic and asks if they can swap with the next person on the list. In a spreadsheet or a notes app, every one of those changes is a manual edit that can easily fall out of sync with what you've told guests. In the queue view, you drag the card, the order updates instantly, and anyone looking at the shared link sees the new sequence within seconds.
This is where the app earns its place — not in the planning phase, but in the fifteen minutes before a recording when three things change at once and you need to stay calm and focused on your guest, not on updating a document.
After the session
When the day wraps, the session log gives you a timestamped record of who recorded when. That's useful for production notes, for matching audio files to guests, and for spotting patterns across multiple recording days — which slots tend to run long, which guests consistently arrive early, where the natural break points are in your schedule. Over a few sessions, those patterns quietly improve how you plan the next one.
What setup actually looks like
- Open the free app on your phone — no signup — and create a running order for the day.
- Add each guest in order, with a per-person note for talking points or mic level.
- Send every guest their private link so they can see their slot and estimated time until they're up.
- Reorder with a drag as sessions run long or short, and each guest's link updates automatically.
What the first five minutes actually feel like
Most hosts are surprised by how little friction there is. You open the app, type the name of your show or recording session, and you're looking at a blank running order. Tap to add your first guest — name, maybe a phone number or email for the link — and a rough session length. Repeat for every guest on today's roster. That whole process typically takes under three minutes for a five-guest day. There's no form wizard asking for billing information, no confirmation email you have to wait on, and no onboarding checklist blocking you from the actual interface.
Once the running order exists, you tap to generate each guest's link. That link is unique to them: it shows their name, their place in the lineup, the estimated time they'll be called in, and a live indicator when the session ahead of them wraps. You can text it, paste it into a WhatsApp group, drop it in an email, or print a QR code at the studio door. Guests open it in any browser and never touch an account or a password.
A concrete example: six guests, one recording room
Imagine you're recording a documentary-style podcast. You have six interviewees booked across a single Saturday — a mix of academics, practitioners, and one remote guest joining by video. Here's what the day looks like in practice:
- 7:45 am — You create the running order while having coffee. Each entry gets a note: "mic stand low," "needs headphones," "video call — check link before slot."
- 8:00 am — Links go out by text. Guests are told to arrive roughly 15 minutes before their slot and that the link will show them exactly when to head in.
- 10:20 am — Your third interview runs long. You drag them to the bottom of the order. Guest four's link silently updates to reflect the new estimated start time. No phone calls, no confusion in the waiting area.
- 12:05 pm — Your remote guest can see they're next. They've been watching their position tick down from slot five to slot four to slot three all morning. They're already connected and ready when you ping them.
- 3:30 pm — Session done. You export the notes from each guest entry for your producer and archive the running order as a reference for episode sequencing.
Notes that actually travel with the guest
The per-guest note field is one of those small details that pays off repeatedly. A typical recording day involves more context-switching than most hosts expect — different topics, different vocal levels, different release permissions, different social handles for show notes. Writing a two-line note directly on each entry ("confirm clip release," "pronounce surname Koh-VAL-ski," "boost gain slightly") means that information is in the same place you're looking when the guest walks in. You're not scrolling back through email threads or asking a producer to check Slack.
What guests experience on their end
From a guest's perspective, the link behaves like a simple, mobile-friendly status page. They see their name, a countdown or estimated time, and their position in the lineup. There's nothing to configure and nothing that expires before they arrive. For guests who are nervous — first-time podcast interviewees often are — the ability to watch their slot approach gradually is genuinely calming. It replaces the anxious "am I in the right place?" text to the host with a quiet, self-serve answer.
Scaling it up without changing the workflow
The same four-step setup that works for a casual six-guest day scales to a larger production without requiring a different process. A multi-show studio running three rooms simultaneously can create a separate running order for each room, each with its own set of guest links. A live event with a green room can display the current running order on a monitor so guests self-manage without staff intervention. The workflow stays the same — you're just running more instances of it in parallel.
