Why does WorkAdventure disconnect when its tab is in the background?

If WorkAdventure drops after a few minutes in a background tab, your browser has most likely deactivated the tab to reclaim memory. Chrome calls this Memory Saver, Microsoft Edge calls it sleeping tabs. A deactivated tab keeps its title and its favicon, but it is no longer running: the connection to your virtual space is closed, and the page reloads from scratch the next time you click it.

Both browsers let you exempt the sites that need to keep running, and WorkAdventure is one of them.

Google Chrome

1. Open Settings ▸ Performance.
2. To the right of Always keep these sites active, select Add.
3. Choose your WorkAdventure tab from the list of open tabs, or enter the address of your space (play.workadventu.re, or your own domain if you use a custom domain name or host WorkAdventure yourself), and select Add..

A site on that list is never deactivated, whichever Memory Saver mode is selected. If your team runs Chrome on Maximum memory savings (Settings ▸ Performance), tabs become inactive after a much shorter time than on the default setting, so that is worth checking at the same time.

Chrome also never deactivates a pinned tab or Progressive Web Apps (PWA). Right-clicking the tab and choosing Pin, or installing the PWA is the quickest fix for one person, and it needs no trip to the settings.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open Settings ▸ System and performance ▸ Performance.
2. Under Always keep these sites active, select Add site.
3. Enter the address of your space and select Add.

If it still disconnects

Neither browser deactivates a tab that is playing audio or video, sharing a screen, or in a call, so tab sleeping only affects people who leave their avatar on the map without being in a conversation. If you are disconnected while you are in a bubble or a meeting room, something else is going on: it is worth checking your network and firewall. Testing from another network (for instance using your 4G/5G phone as a hotspot) can help identify whether the problem is your network or your computer.