How to Protect Your Online Meetings from Uninvited Guests

If you're a coach, tutor, consultant, or any professional who runs paid sessions over video call, you've probably experienced this: you send a Google Meet or Zoom link to a client, and suddenly someone else shows up. Maybe the client forwarded the link to a friend. Maybe it leaked in a group chat. Either way — you're giving away your time for free.

The problem: video call links are not secure

Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams generate meeting links that work for anyone who has them. There's no built-in way to verify that the person joining actually paid for the session.

For professionals who charge per session, this is a real issue. You spend time preparing, you block your calendar, and then you discover an unauthorized person in your meeting — or worse, your client shared the link with multiple people to 'split the cost'.

Some platforms suggest workarounds: change the link for every session, use waiting rooms, manually verify each participant. But these are time-consuming band-aids, not real solutions.

The solution: automatic identity verification before every meeting

What if the video call link itself was protected? Not by a password (which can also be shared), but by automatic identity verification tied to a confirmed booking and payment?

This is exactly what Mavify's meeting protection does. When a client books a session through Mavify, they receive a secure link. Before they can join the actual video call, the system automatically verifies their identity against the booking record.

If someone who didn't book tries to use the link — they're simply blocked. No manual checking. No awkward conversations. The system handles it automatically, every single time.

How it works — step by step

1. Client books a session through Mavify

Your client picks a time slot and confirms the booking. If you have online payments enabled — they pay right away. If not — the booking is confirmed without payment*. Either way, a verified record is created linking that specific client to that specific session.

* Online payment is optional — as a professional, you decide whether clients pay upfront when booking or you settle separately. Meet Gate protection works regardless of the payment method.

2. A secure meeting link is generated

If you've connected your Google account, Mavify creates a Google Meet link automatically. If you use another platform (Zoom, Teams, etc.), you can paste your own link — Mavify wraps it in a protective layer.

3. Identity verified on every entry

When the client clicks the meeting link from their booking confirmation, the system checks: Is this the person who booked? Do they have a valid booking for this session? Only after verification passes, the client is redirected to the actual video call.

Who is this for?

If you've ever opened a video call and seen an unfamiliar name in the participant list — this is for you. Personal trainers, yoga instructors, language tutors, therapists, business consultants, music teachers, nutritionists — any professional conducting paid 1:1 or group sessions over video call.

What about group sessions?

The same protection applies to group sessions. Every participant must have a valid, confirmed booking to access the meeting. This means you can confidently run group workshops knowing that only registered clients are in the room.

Works with your existing tools

Mavify integrates directly with Google Meet — connect your Google account and enable automatic link creation, and meeting links are generated automatically for every online booking. No manual copy-pasting.

If you use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or any other video platform, set the manual mode — add your meeting link in the booking panel, and Mavify wraps it in the same protection layer. Important: the meeting link is always delivered through the Mavify platform, never directly via email or messenger.

Automatic vs manual mode

After connecting your Google account, you have two options. Automatic mode: Mavify creates a Google Meet link for you with every booking — zero manual work. Manual mode: you add your own link to any platform (Zoom, Teams, Skype, anything). Meet Gate protection works identically in both modes — the client never receives a raw video call link. They always go through a secured Mavify link that verifies their identity before redirecting.

In both modes, bookings automatically appear in your Google Calendar (if you've connected your account). In automatic mode, the event includes a Google Meet link. In manual mode, the event is created without a link — you add your Zoom, Teams, or other platform link in the Mavify panel, and the calendar event description updates automatically.

Changing the link after booking

Made a mistake with the link? Want to switch from Zoom to Teams? No problem — you can edit the meeting link at any time up to 5 minutes before the session starts.

The client won't receive any notification about the change and won't even notice anything changed. Their link from the booking confirmation will continue to work correctly and redirect them to the current meeting.

When won't Meet Gate work?

Meet Gate verifies identity based on the Mavify account linked to the booking. This means if a client shares their Mavify login credentials with another person — that person will pass verification because the system sees a valid account with a valid booking. This is the only scenario where protection can be bypassed, and it's no different from sharing a Netflix account — the platform can't fully prevent it.

However, Mavify logs every gate entry: IP address and device (browser). On the Pro plan, after the meeting you'll see the number of entries from each account and from how many unique IP addresses and devices they occurred. If you see that one account entered from 3 different devices — you know someone shared access. You can then block that client from future bookings.

There's one more scenario: after successful verification, the client is redirected to the actual video call — and at that point, the real meeting URL (e.g., the Google Meet link) is visible in their browser's address bar. In theory, they could copy it and share it with someone else. The key difference compared to the traditional approach, however, is this: without Meet Gate, the client receives the link hours or days before the session — plenty of time to share it with a group of friends. With Meet Gate, the real link is only visible during the session's time window (5 minutes before start), which drastically reduces the opportunity to share it. However, entries through the raw link are not tracked by the Mavify gate — they would only show up in the video platform's own participant stats (e.g., Google Meet).

Built-in time window — links expire automatically

Meet Gate adds another layer of protection that most people don't think about: the meeting link only works within a specific time window — 5 minutes before the session starts until 60 minutes after it ends. Outside this window, the gate is completely inactive — clicking the link from the booking confirmation does nothing. This means that even if a client sees the raw video call URL after being redirected, the window in which they could share it with someone else is very short — a few minutes, not hours or days like with the traditional approach.

Meet Gate + waiting room = double protection

If you already use a waiting room in Zoom or Teams — great, that's a solid layer of protection. Meet Gate doesn't replace your waiting room, it complements it as an automatic pre-filter. The waiting room works at the video call level — someone joins and waits for you to let them in. Meet Gate works earlier: it screens people before anyone reaches your meeting. Together, they provide double protection.

The practical difference: a waiting room requires your attention — you need to check names and admit people manually. Meet Gate is fully automatic and invisible to you. If you're running back-to-back sessions and don't have time for manual verification — Meet Gate filters out unauthorized people before they even show up in your waiting room. And if you don't use a waiting room at all — Meet Gate gives you at least one layer of protection that requires zero effort on your part.

Focus on your work, not on gatekeeping

Your expertise is what clients pay for — not your ability to manage meeting access. Let the system handle security so you can focus on delivering great sessions. Meet Gate protection is included in every plan — see pricing.