diff --git a/src/UrlParams.test.ts b/src/UrlParams.test.ts
index 2bf12a6b..47428ac6 100644
--- a/src/UrlParams.test.ts
+++ b/src/UrlParams.test.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
-import { getRoomIdentifierFromUrl } from "../src/UrlParams";
+import { getRoomIdentifierFromUrl, getUrlParams } from "../src/UrlParams";
 
 const ROOM_NAME = "roomNameHere";
 const ROOM_ID = "!d45f138fsd";
@@ -86,4 +86,18 @@ describe("UrlParams", () => {
         .roomAlias,
     ).toBeFalsy();
   });
+
+  describe("preload", () => {
+    it("defaults to false", () => {
+      expect(getUrlParams().preload).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("ignored in SPA mode", () => {
+      expect(getUrlParams("?preload=true").preload).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("respected in widget mode", () => {
+      expect(getUrlParams("?preload=true&widgetId=12345").preload).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/UrlParams.ts b/src/UrlParams.ts
index b4f6ca28..c87b79cc 100644
--- a/src/UrlParams.ts
+++ b/src/UrlParams.ts
@@ -211,8 +211,11 @@ export const getUrlParams = (
 
   const fontScale = parseFloat(parser.getParam("fontScale") ?? "");
 
+  const widgetId = parser.getParam("widgetId");
+  const isWidget = !!widgetId;
+
   return {
-    widgetId: parser.getParam("widgetId"),
+    widgetId,
     parentUrl: parser.getParam("parentUrl"),
 
     // NB. we don't validate roomId here as we do in getRoomIdentifierFromUrl:
@@ -224,7 +227,7 @@ export const getUrlParams = (
     confineToRoom:
       parser.getFlagParam("confineToRoom") || parser.getFlagParam("embed"),
     appPrompt: parser.getFlagParam("appPrompt", true),
-    preload: parser.getFlagParam("preload"),
+    preload: isWidget ? parser.getFlagParam("preload") : false,
     hideHeader: parser.getFlagParam("hideHeader"),
     showControls: parser.getFlagParam("showControls", true),
     hideScreensharing: parser.getFlagParam("hideScreensharing"),