Jesus, it's like !anythingbutmetric@discuss.tchncs.de: MFs will really do anything to avoid switching to an alternative that's actually Free Software.
this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
124 points (91.9% liked)
Privacy
3933 readers
508 users here now
Icon base by Lorc under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Is there a free software with voice chat and screen sharing? I am searching for one.
The new element call has both but has not been implemented in all clients yet
Matrix has VC, but not sure about screen sharing.
I think Jitsi Meet can do screen sharing, but that's a separate platform from Matrix dedicated to video calls, although I think Matrix clients can integrate with it IIRC.
I will definitely check out jitsi. Thanks man!
Element call (Matrix) has screen share, Signal does as well.
Apparently it doesn't really support audio with screen sharing. I do want to share the audio as well so i can watch youtube and stremio with friends
I havent tried it myself so I can't verify but is this the same problem/situation in this github issue?
https://github.com/element-hq/element-call/issues/3142
If it is someone supposedly posted a solution.
Privacy???
It is a proprietary virus!
If you want privacy, choose open source
Having tried it:
Voice chat is flawless
Video chat/streaming is arguably better than discord*
Text chat leaves a LOT to be desired. Its there, I guess.
*on linux YMMV
This is the biggest hurdle. Plus the streaming is still p2p so it won't work to steam to larger groups very well.
Still closed source proprietary software, but good for them.
Still better than Discord's age verification
Until it's just as bad. Just move to Stoat (formerly Revolt) or Fermi.chat and save yourself the headache of another centralized platform going to shit.
I tried to set one up but a bunch of people had trouble even signing up. I'm finding Element (Matrix) is less troublesome so far.
Or Matrix, which is federated.
It's decentralized, not federated I thought...? Are there other services that use the Matrix protocol?
Federated means that different servers can talk to each other and decentralized means that there is no server.
There is also nothing stopping someone from using the Matrix protocol to create another service, though I don't know of one that exists.
and decentralised means there is no server
no, it means there's no central server. You still need a Matrix server to handle communications, but there's no "central matrix server", the servers discover each other based on a baked-in "known good" server list + ad-hoc discovery (e.g. if a server has a group chat with a member of a server your server doesn't know yet, and you join that group chat, your server and the unknown one exchange metadata and so on).
You just described federation.
No, this is called decentralisation.
Federation would be the exchange of rules, policies, blocklists, etc., beyond the ability of servers to talk to each other.
As someone else said, stoat isnt federated. It also doesnt have E2EE. Meaning in practice, you are still using a centralized service that can enshitify. You could self host, but your friends aren't going to switch to your small self hosted instance if everyone is on the central server.
You can self host Teamspeak and the self hosted version at least has voice chat unlike Stoat.
Neither of those have working audio channels yet right?
I've been following Stoat, their documentation states that self hosted voice channels don't work (I think their official server does though), and also you have to recompile their client software to hard code the link to your server.
That feels so much like niche coder hobbyist hurdles that I really doubt people en masse would make the switch by themselves.
Yeah I'm really hoping they just add a button in the client to connect to a custom server (like how Bitwarden works), as well as actually update the self hosting images and instructions. I've been keeping tabs on them for almost a year now, and still no progress on that front.
Oh yeesh. Sounds like it's got a good way to go before regular use becomes viable
Stoat seems to, though I've not actually tested it. But my system audio devices showed up in the browser client as inputs, so that's a good sign that something is there.
Does it still look like it’s designed for Windows 98?
I hope so
Team speak? What year is it?
I remember hosting a teamspeak server for folks I played Wolfenstein: ET with. In the early 2000's.
Next week, let's bring back Ventrilo!
Vi sitter här i venten...
xFire, please.
I was just thinking about xFire the other day, randomly. Maybe it's a sign!
You guys are making me age like Matt Damon!
I'm still stuck on Mumble.
Have they released the server parts of TS6 yet? Last I checked, it wasn't available on the download page.
https://github.com/teamspeak/teamspeak6-server
Beta License: The server includes a 32-slot Beta License that will be renewed every two months throughout the beta/evaluation period, until licensing and pricing are finalized.
Additionally, it is not yet possible to obtain or upgrade to a larger license for TeamSpeak 6.
I have to try this yet, but on the docker hub there is an image that looks like it's legit with 100k+ pulls, if containers are your thing...
load more comments
(1 replies)
Reading their site has me a little confused. Do you have to pay to rent a server if all you want to do is make a group to voice chat with a few friends?
That’s how the internet used to work, back before investor money came in and made operating at an insane loss a valid way to run a business. To avoid it you could self-host, which usually involved some networking knowledge.
That or skype
Ah, those good old days...
I'm looking for a self hosted chat server to build and run, but a web ui is critical to my use case, and from what I can see TS6 still won't have that. I am done trying to convince people to install a new app. Revolt (now StoatChat) seems to do what I want but setup is kind of complicated if you don't want to use the included Caddy config (I already have a reverse proxy that I'd prefer to use over Caddy, for example).
Anyone know of more mature projects similar to revolt/stoat, or is that my best bet?
From what I’ve seen stoat or matrix(using element or whatever you want) look like the best options? TS6 has no mobile or web, and has been in beta for years.
view more: next ›