Brave's browser now includes a privacy-focused video calling app

[bnew]

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It offers unlimited calls for unlimited participants.

Rachel England, @rachel_england

Brave
If there’s one thing we’re all painfully familiar with these days it’s video calling. What was once an activity generally reserved for the occasional remote team get-together or long-distance family catch-up has become a daily occurrence for many, and companies in this area are thriving. Privacy-focused browser Brave, however, has spotted a gap in the market for a more secure offering, and is now working on its own spin on video conferencing: Brave Together.

Our Nightly version for North America now features Brave Together, our private and unlimited video calling service based on open source @jitsinews. Click on the widget & start connecting with friends/colleagues. Feedback welcome at Brave Together for this trial version. pic.twitter.com/UPFE13Z0xB

— Brave Software (@brave) May 26, 2020
The service is essentially a Brave-branded version of Jitsi, the open-source app allegedly favored by Edward Snowden. It already offers end-to-end encryption for one-on-one video calls, and is currently working on enabling that function for multiple-person calls. In any case, it offers a bunch of security features, including four-word meeting links, which make it that much harder for Zoombombers to interrupt proceedings.

Brave users in the US will be able to access Brave Together via a widget on their desktop (support for iOS and Android will come later), although at this stage it’s only available for Brave Nightly users for testing before it goes into beta. It’s not clear yet whether users will be able to access the feature for free or via Brave’s digital token BAT. However, it will support unlimited video calling with an unlimited number of participants, which makes it particularly attractive in a world of 40-minute meeting caps (Zoom) and eight-person limits (Houseparty).

Plus, of course, there’s the privacy component, which will undoubtedly find favor with security-focused folk. Brave hit a milestone at the end of last year when it revealed some 8.7 million people were using its browser every month, so in the wake of Zoom’s iffy security record Brave Together could be responsible for bumping that number up even more.

 

[bnew]

Brave launches Brave Together video calling in latest Nightly version - gHacks Tech News

Brave launches Brave Together video calling in latest Nightly version
by Martin Brinkmann on May 27, 2020 in Internet - 1 comment
The makers of the Brave web browser announced the launch of a "private and unlimited video calling service" in Brave called Brave Together on May 26, 2020. The service is based on the open source solution Jitsi and currently only available to Brave users who run development versions of the web browser.

Brave revealed that it is only available to users from North America but the functionality appears to be working in other regions as well at the time of writing.

It takes just a few steps to start using Brave Together. Visit the Brave Together website in the Brave browser and hit the "Start video call" button to get started; this creates a new room and a link that you may share with others; you may also copy the URL as it is the URL that others need to open to join the chat. You may password protect the room optionally to block unauthorized access to the room.

The interface looks very similar to the default interface that Jitsi provides. It is a branded version of that and provides the same functionality.

Here is a list of things that Brave Together supports:

1. Screen sharing.
2. Moderation options such as muting everyone or muting individual users.
3. Share a YouTube video with everyone.
4. Support for shortcuts to control the chat using the keyboard.
5. Set video quality.
6. Configure initial settings such as "everyone starts muted".
7. Option to raise/lower hand.

Some Jitsi option such as the ability to blur the background (beta) seem unavailable at the time of writing.

Brave Together is an interesting feature that worked well during initial tests. Brave calls it a "trial version" and it is likely that the service will see improvements in the coming months before it lands in the stable version of the browser.

One of the most appealing things about it is that it is really easy to use yet provides enough options to make the video chats private and secure. Jitsi supports end-to-end encryption but I could not find that option in the first Brave release.

Brave revealed little about Brave Together at this point in time and it may take a while before an official blog post reveals more details on the integration in the web browser.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Niche af

Imagine telling someone that you're going to video call them on Brave Together and they need to download a new browser to use it.

The listed features look cool tho

 

[bnew]

Brave Together

Brave Browser Privacy Policy

Brave Together
Brave Together is a private video conference tool that you can use to call with your friends and colleagues. Nothing that you say or type in the service is logged or saved. See data processing detail.

Note: Your IP address is available to your Internet provider. If your Internet provider requires the use of a TURN server, then your IP address will also be available to a company called 8×8, which operates the TURN server. However, the content of your call is encrypted, which means your audio and video stay private.

To avoid scams: For the avoidance of phishing attacks, note that we at Brave never contact Brave Browser users in a Together call.

 

[bnew]

Niche af

Imagine telling someone that you're going to video call them on Brave Together and they need to download a new browser to use it.

The listed features look cool tho

how is downloading another browser different from downloading another app to use a service?

 

[GoldenGlove]

how is downloading another browser different from downloading another app to use a service?

When it comes to user adoption and engagement. The difference is enough for potential users not to even bother trying it.

 

[bnew]

When it comes to user adoption and engagement. The difference is enough for potential users not to even bother trying it.

I think people have gotten use to installing and uninstalling apps just because of the mobile experience, a new app is not as much of a hindrance is it was pre-smartphones.

 

[GoldenGlove]

I think people have gotten use to installing and uninstalling apps just because of the mobile experience, a new app is not as much of a hindrance is it was pre-smartphones.

If you tell someone you're having a video call/meeting, and you hit them with, "Yeah we're doing it on Brave Browser", they'll be like...


"Why can't we just do it on Facetime, or Zoom, or Facebook Messenger, or Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, or Skype"... you know the stuff that the vast majority of people are using and already have.

 

[bnew]

If you tell someone you're having a video call/meeting, and you hit them with, "Yeah we're doing it on Brave Browser", they'll be like...


"Why can't we just do it on Facetime, or Zoom, or Facebook Messenger, or Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, or Skype"... you know the stuff that the vast majority of people are using and already have.

biggest selling point is privacy.