Raise Hand

Add raise hand behavior in CometChat Calls SDK v5 on iOS so participants can request attention during group calls.

Allow participants to raise their hand to get attention during calls. This feature is useful for large meetings, webinars, or any scenario where participants need to signal they want to speak.

Raise Hand

Signal that you want to speak or get attention:

Swift

CallSession.shared.raiseHand()

Objective-C

[[CallSession shared] raiseHand];

Lower Hand

Remove the raised hand indicator:

Swift

CallSession.shared.lowerHand()

Objective-C

[[CallSession shared] lowerHand];

Listen for Raise Hand Events

Monitor when participants raise or lower their hands using ParticipantEventListener:

Swift

class CallViewController: UIViewController, ParticipantEventListener {
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        CallSession.shared.addParticipantEventListener(self)
    }
    
    deinit {
        CallSession.shared.removeParticipantEventListener(self)
    }
    
    func onParticipantHandRaised(participant: Participant) {
        print("\(participant.name ?? "") raised their hand")
        // Show notification or visual indicator
        showHandRaisedNotification(participant)
    }

    func onParticipantHandLowered(participant: Participant) {
        print("\(participant.name ?? "") lowered their hand")
        // Remove notification or visual indicator
        hideHandRaisedIndicator(participant)
    }

    // Other callbacks...
    func onParticipantJoined(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantLeft(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantListChanged(participants: [Participant]) {}
    func onParticipantAudioMuted(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantAudioUnmuted(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantVideoPaused(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantVideoResumed(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantStartedScreenShare(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantStoppedScreenShare(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantStartedRecording(participant: Participant) {}
    func onParticipantStoppedRecording(participant: Participant) {}
    func onDominantSpeakerChanged(participant: Participant) {}
}

Objective-C

@interface CallViewController () <ParticipantEventListener>
@end

@implementation CallViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    [[CallSession shared] addParticipantEventListener:self];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [[CallSession shared] removeParticipantEventListener:self];
}

- (void)onParticipantHandRaisedWithParticipant:(Participant *)participant {
    NSLog(@"%@ raised their hand", participant.name);
    // Show notification or visual indicator
    [self showHandRaisedNotification:participant];
}

- (void)onParticipantHandLoweredWithParticipant:(Participant *)participant {
    NSLog(@"%@ lowered their hand", participant.name);
    // Remove notification or visual indicator
    [self hideHandRaisedIndicator:participant];
}

// Other callbacks...

@end

Track Raised Hands

Participant carries no raised-hand property, and the SDK exposes no getter for one. Keep an ordered list of your own, driven by the onParticipantHandRaised / onParticipantHandLowered callbacks.

These callbacks fire only when a hand goes up or down. A client that joins mid-call cannot discover hands that were already raised before it joined.

Swift

// Raised hands, oldest first. Keyed by uid, because that is the only identifier
// `Participant` actually carries.
private var raisedHands: [(uid: String, name: String, at: Date)] = []

func onParticipantHandRaised(participant: Participant) {
    guard let uid = participant.uid else { return }
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        guard !self.raisedHands.contains(where: { $0.uid == uid }) else { return }
        self.raisedHands.append((uid, participant.name ?? uid, Date()))
        self.updateRaisedHandsList(self.raisedHands)
    }
}

func onParticipantHandLowered(participant: Participant) {
    guard let uid = participant.uid else { return }
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        self.raisedHands.removeAll { $0.uid == uid }
        self.updateRaisedHandsList(self.raisedHands)
    }
}

// Someone who leaves should not stay in the queue.
func onParticipantLeft(participant: Participant) {
    guard let uid = participant.uid else { return }
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
        self.raisedHands.removeAll { $0.uid == uid }
        self.updateRaisedHandsList(self.raisedHands)
    }
}

Objective-C

// NSMutableArray of uid strings, oldest first.
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSMutableArray<NSString *> *raisedHandUIDs;

- (void)onParticipantHandRaisedWithParticipant:(Participant *)participant {
    NSString *uid = participant.uid;
    if (!uid) { return; }
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        if (![self.raisedHandUIDs containsObject:uid]) {
            [self.raisedHandUIDs addObject:uid];
            [self updateRaisedHandsList:self.raisedHandUIDs];
        }
    });
}

- (void)onParticipantHandLoweredWithParticipant:(Participant *)participant {
    NSString *uid = participant.uid;
    if (!uid) { return; }
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        [self.raisedHandUIDs removeObject:uid];
        [self updateRaisedHandsList:self.raisedHandUIDs];
    });
}

Hide Raise Hand Button

To disable the raise hand feature, hide the button in the call UI:

Swift

let sessionSettings = CometChatCalls.sessionSettingsBuilder
    .hideRaiseHandButton(true)
    .build()

Objective-C

SessionSettings *sessionSettings = [[[CometChatCalls sessionSettingsBuilder]
    hideRaiseHandButton:YES]
    build];