Video calls without links, invites or scheduling
A Samudaia video call has no URL. Rooms in your virtual office are permanently open calls, so you start one by walking your avatar into a room and end it by walking out. There is nothing to generate, nothing to send and nothing to join.
That sounds like a small change. In practice it removes the entire negotiation that sits in front of every remote conversation: is now a good time, who should be there, where do we put it, and who sends the link.
How a link-free video call works
- Open your workspace. You are on the office map with everyone else who is working.
- Look at who is around. Presence shows who is online and which room they are in.
- Walk into a room. Your camera and microphone connect to everyone already there.
- Talk. Share your screen or open the whiteboard if the thing is easier to show than to say.
- Walk out. The connection ends, and you are back on the map.
Joining someone else's conversation is the same five steps. There is no difference between starting a call and joining one, because the room was already there.
Why the meeting link is the problem
The link is not a convenience, it is a toll. Every link implies a decision about when, an invite, and a calendar entry to justify it. So a 90-second question becomes a 30-minute slot on Thursday, and the answer arrives two days late.
| Link-based call | Samudaia | |
|---|---|---|
| To start | Create meeting, copy URL, send it | Walk into a room |
| To join | Find the link, click, wait in a lobby | Walk into a room |
| Calendar entry | Usually | Never |
| Knowing if now is OK | Ask first | Presence shows it |
| Adding a third person | Forward the link | They walk in |
| Leaving early | Awkward | Walk out |
| Overhead for a 60-second question | Minutes to days | Seconds |
What is in the room
- Video and audio for everyone in the room, over WebRTC (LiveKit).
- Screen sharing, the fastest way to end a misunderstanding.
- A shared whiteboard for diagrams and rough thinking.
- Per-room chat for links, snippets and anything worth keeping.
- Background blur when your background is not a set.
- Entry approval so a private conversation stays private.
What this is not good for
Calls with people outside your workspace, and large scheduled events. If you need to send an external client a link for Tuesday at 3, use a conferencing tool. That is what links are genuinely good at. Samudaia is for the conversations inside your own team, which are most of them.
A note on spatial audio
Some virtual offices attenuate volume with distance so you can overhear a conversation as you approach it. Samudaia does not do that today: audio is per-room, so you are either in a room and hearing everyone in it, or on the map and hearing nobody. If overhearing the open floor is essential to you, Gather is the more direct fit.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you make a video call without a link?
- Yes. In Samudaia the call is attached to a place rather than a URL. Rooms in your virtual office are permanently open, so walking your avatar into a room connects your camera and microphone to everyone already inside. Nothing is generated, sent or clicked.
- How do people join a call if there is no invite?
- They walk in. Everyone in the workspace can see the rooms on the map and who is in them, so joining a conversation is the same action as starting one. Rooms that need privacy can require the people inside to approve entry.
- Is this a free video call app for teams?
- Samudaia is free to start: create a workspace, invite your team, and use the rooms, screen sharing, background blur and whiteboard at no cost and without a credit card.
- What technology are the video calls built on?
- WebRTC, through LiveKit. Media is carried by a selective forwarding unit rather than peer-to-peer mesh, which is what keeps quality reasonable once more than a couple of people are in a room. Everything runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install.
- Does my camera turn on automatically?
- Your camera and microphone connect when you enter a room, and you choose your devices and whether the camera is on before you enter. On the open map you are not publishing video or audio at all.
- Can I share my screen?
- Yes. Screen sharing is available in any room, along with background blur, a shared whiteboard and per-room text chat.
- How do I talk to someone who looks busy?
- Knock. It sends a short request to talk that they can accept or decline, instead of a ringing call they have to deal with.
Try a video call with no link attached
Create a workspace, invite one colleague, and walk into a room. That is the whole demo.