Nearo supports one-to-one online sessions for teachers, tutors, students, guests, and small organizations.

For most sessions, your Room is the easiest way to connect. Each Nearo host gets a personal meeting room that can be shared with a student, family, client, colleague, or guest. Guests can join from their browser without creating a Nearo account or downloading the Nearo app.

You can also use direct Nearo-to-Nearo Calls with a teammate when you both have Nearo accounts and the Nearo desktop app installed.

Getting access to Nearo

There is no open sign-up for Nearo. You get an account in one of two ways:

Nearo creates the account for you and sends an email titled "Your Nearo login information" with your email address and a starting password.
Your organization's Admin shares an organization invitation link with you. Open the link, fill in your First Name, Last Name, Email and Create Password, and click Sign Up.

💡 If Nearo created your account, use Forgot your password? on the sign-in page to choose your own password.

Once you have an account, open the Nearo Dashboard in your browser and sign in with your email and password. The Welcome back card is in the middle of the page, with Email, Password and the Sign In button. After you sign in, the Dashboard opens, with a sidebar down the left side of every page. Use the Dashboard to manage your settings, access your Room information, and download the Nearo desktop app.

Understanding Rooms and Calls

Nearo gives you two ways to connect for live one-to-one sessions.

Room Calls

Room Calls are the easiest way to meet with most students, families, clients, or guests.

Each Nearo host has a personal Room. You can share your Room link with someone, and they can join from their browser.

Room Calls are best when:

You want someone to join quickly.
Your guest does not have a Nearo account.
Your guest has not downloaded the Nearo app.
You are meeting with a student, parent, client, or outside guest.
You want to control when the guest enters your session.

You do not need to invite a student to your Nearo account before using a Room Call.

Direct Nearo-to-Nearo Calls

Direct Calls are available between teammates who are both set up with Nearo.

Direct Calls are best when:

Both people have Nearo accounts.
Both people have the Nearo desktop app installed.
Both people are regular Nearo users.
You want to call a teammate directly from the desktop app.

For most sessions, we recommend starting with your Room.

Downloading the Nearo desktop app

Hosts use the Nearo desktop app for live sessions.

From the Dashboard, you can download the Nearo desktop app if it is not already installed on your computer.

To download the app:

Sign in to the Nearo Dashboard.
On the Dashboard, find the Download the Nearo App card in the right-hand column (below My Roster in a narrow window), and choose the download for your computer: Intel Mac or Apple Silicon on a Mac, or Download for Windows on Windows.
Install the app on your computer.
Open the Nearo desktop app when you are ready to start a session.

For detailed instructions, see the article Downloading, installing, and updating the Nearo app on Mac or Windows.

🔔 You will spend most of your time in the Nearo desktop app when running live sessions. The Dashboard is used mainly for setup, account management, and organization administration.

Signing in to the Nearo desktop app

The desktop app signs you in through your browser, so you do not need to type your password in the app.

Open the Nearo desktop app. On the first screen, Welcome to Nearo, click Sign in (it is below Join a Room).
Click Sign in with your browser, the main button on the next screen. Your browser opens the Nearo Dashboard, and if you are not already signed in there, sign in with your email and password. If you were already signed in on the website, the Dashboard also shows a box with Continue to app. Click it to finish signing in to the app.
When your browser asks for permission to open Nearo, choose Open Nearo. Ticking Always allow means Nearo opens straight away next time.
Once the app opens, you can close the browser tab.

If the page says "Nearo didn't open," the app may not be installed on this computer yet, so use the download button on that page. You can also sign in directly in the desktop app: after you click Sign in, enter your Email and Password in the fields below Sign in with your browser and click Sign in.

The app remembers you, so it opens signed in the next time you start it. If you do not open Nearo for 90 days, you are asked to sign in again.

Starting a Room Call

For most one-to-one sessions, start with your Room.

To start a Room Call:

Open the Nearo desktop app and sign in. Nearo opens to the home screen.
On the home screen, find the My room card at the top of the page and click the blue Open my room button at the bottom of the card.
In your open Room window, click the copy button under your Room link, then share the link with your student, family, client, colleague, or guest.
Have your guest open the link in their browser.
When your guest is waiting, they appear in the WAITING TO JOIN list in the room details, beside the camera preview (under the preview in a narrow window), and a chime plays. Click the round green check button next to their name to let them in when you are ready, or the round red X button to decline.
Begin your one-to-one session.

Guests can join your Room from their browser without creating a Nearo account or downloading the Nearo app.

You do not need to invite students to your Nearo account or add them to your student roster before starting a Room Call.

Starting a direct Call

You can also call a teammate directly.

To start a direct Call:

Open the Nearo desktop app and sign in.
On the home screen, scroll to the last section, Call a teammate, and find the person in the Team Members list.
Click Call.

The person you are calling must have a Nearo account and must have the Nearo desktop app open and signed in to receive the call.

If the other person is not already set up with Nearo, use your Room instead.

Understanding the Dashboard

The Dashboard is where you manage your account, optional student invitations, teammates, organization settings, and other setup details.

Live sessions do not take place in the Dashboard.

The Dashboard is used to:

Download the Nearo app.
Copy your Room link or a ready-to-send invitation message for students, families, or guests.
Invite students to your roster, if you want them to appear in it.
View organization members under Teammates.
Update your name or change your sign-in email under My Settings.
Manage your organization under Organization Settings, if you are an Admin.

Inviting students through the Dashboard is optional and is not required for Room Calls.

If you belong to more than one organization, the organization switcher at the top of the sidebar changes which organization you are viewing. In the desktop app, the Organization row in your avatar menu does the same.

Teacher setup

Teachers use the Dashboard to manage optional student invitations, prepare for sessions, and access setup tools.

Viewing your student roster

Your student roster only shows students who joined using the Student Invite Link on your Dashboard roster card.

If you have not invited students this way, no students will appear in your student roster.

This is expected and does not prevent you from using Room Calls. You can still open your Room and share your Room link with a student or guest.

Inviting students to Nearo

You can invite students to your Nearo account using your unique Student Invite Link.

This is optional. It is useful if you want students to have Nearo accounts and appear in your roster.

To invite students:

On the Dashboard, find the My Roster card in the left-hand column and copy the Student Invite Link with the copy button next to it.
Share the link with your students or their parents.
When a student signs up from the link, their request appears under Pending Requests on your roster card. Click Approve to add them to your roster, or Deny.

Nearo does not email you about new requests, so check Pending Requests on your Dashboard. Students receive an email when you approve them.

🔔 You do not need to invite students this way for Room Calls. For a Room Call, you can simply share your Room link and let the guest in when they join.

Viewing teammates

If you are part of an organization, click Teammates in the sidebar to see the other members of your organization.

This helps you see who else has access to Nearo.

Updating your name and display name

You can manage how your name appears to others from My Settings, which is in the sidebar down the left side of the Dashboard.

From My Settings, you can:

Update your First Name and Last Name.
Set a Display Name, which is shown to others instead of your full name, for example in rosters and invitations.
Click Save Changes.

ℹ️ To change the email you sign in with, see Changing the email you sign in with.

Signing out of Nearo everywhere

If a device is lost or someone else may have your sign-in, you can sign out of Nearo on every computer and browser at once.

Sign in to the Nearo Dashboard and click My Settings in the sidebar.
Scroll to the Security card, the second card, under Profile Information, and click Sign out everywhere, which is below your email address.
Click OK when your browser asks "Sign out of Nearo on every device?"

Every browser and the Nearo desktop app are signed out, including the one you are using, and each asks you to sign in again. An open desktop app signs out right away.

You can also do this in the Nearo desktop app:

Click your picture at the bottom of the narrow strip down the left side of the main window.
Choose Sign out everywhere, which is directly under Sign-out.
Click OK when the box titled "Sign out everywhere?" asks you to confirm.

Resetting your password also signs you out everywhere. See How do I reset my Nearo password?

Inviting another educator to Nearo

If you want to bring another educator onto Nearo:

Sign in to the Nearo Dashboard.
Click Help Center in the sidebar down the left side of the page.
Under the Create a ticket heading, select Invite another educator to Nearo.

Setting up an organization account

To upgrade to an organization account, which allows you to add more users:

Sign in to the Nearo Dashboard.
Click Help Center in the sidebar down the left side of the page.
Under the Create a ticket heading, select Set up an organization account.

Organization Admin setup

Admins manage organization-wide settings, members, and rosters.

🔔 You must be designated as an Admin to access organization settings.

ℹ️ Admins also have access to all teacher functionality.

The person who created the organization is its owner and is always an Admin. Only Nearo staff can change a member's role.

Organization management is done from the Organization Settings page in the Dashboard. Click Organization Settings in the sidebar, just below Dashboard. It is only visible to Admins.

Managing organization details

Organization-level behavior is managed in the Organization Configuration section of the Organization Settings page.

From this section, you can:

Change the organization name visible to all members.
Choose whether roles are labeled Teacher / Student or Host / Guest across the Dashboard.
Turn on Students' Visibility to allow students to see other students in the organization.
Click Save Settings.

ℹ️ The role labels you choose apply to the Dashboard only. The desktop app and the browser page your students join from keep their usual wording.

Inviting teachers with an invitation link

If your Organization Settings page shows an Invitation Links section, copy the teacher invitation link there and share it with the teacher. They sign up from the link and join your organization.

Managing organization members

Member access and roles are managed in the Manage Members section of the Organization Settings page, below the member counts.