Voice and video calls

You can voice call the other person of a direct chat. When your homeserver has a LiveKit server for calls, calls go through it, the way Element X and Element Call make them, so Element X users can answer and call you. Otherwise they go directly between the apps, the way Element on the desktop and Element Classic on Android make them. Both kinds of call ring here.

Calling

Open the direct chat, and press 📞 in its header. A bar at the top of the window shows the call: Calling… while it rings on the other side, then the call's length once you are connected.

Answering

An incoming call rings and shows the bar at the top, whichever room is open, with Answer and Decline. On Windows and Linux the app plays a ring tone of its own on the system's default speaker. When the app is in the background, a notification tells about the call. If you have the app on several devices, they all ring; answering on one stops the others.

Video

On a device with a camera, a phone or a Linux computer with a webcam, press 📹 in a direct chat's header to start a video call. When someone calls you with video, the bar says Incoming video call; Answer with video also sends your camera, and Answer answers with voice only. The app asks for the camera permission the first time.

During a video call the video fills the screen; Chat shows the rooms and messages under a smaller call bar, and Video brings the full screen back. Your own camera shows small in a corner. Switch camera, shown when there is more than one camera, changes between them, e.g. the front and back cameras of a phone; and Camera off stops your camera until you press Camera on; the call goes on with voice.

The picture turns upright when either phone is held sideways. A phone that cannot keep up with the other's video asks it for a smaller picture, 320x240 at 10 frames per second, and for full quality again once it can. The desktop app sends video from a webcam on Linux; your user needs access to it, usually as a member of the video group. On Windows it shows the other person's video, but cannot send video yet.

During a call

• Mute stops sending your voice; the bar says muted.
• Speaker and Earpiece switch phones between the loudspeaker and the earpiece.
• Hang up ends the call, or cancels one that still rings.

The bar says relayed when the call goes through your server's relay (TURN), e.g. when a firewall stands between you, and Reconnecting… while the network is down for a moment. After the call ends, the bar tells why for a few seconds.

Phones

The first call asks for the microphone permission, and on Android 13 and later also the permission for notifications. While a call goes on, a notification stays in the status bar, so that the call keeps going when you switch to another app.

When there is no sound

Try Test audio… in the settings: you hear yourself a second later. If you hear nothing there, choose the microphone and speaker in the system's sound settings.