Join 1-click video calls, on more browsers

A popular request since we released our Daily.co 1-click video calls was more browser support. Many users wanted to join calls on browsers other than Chrome. Thank you to all the users who've pinged us — we prioritized your feedback!

You now can join Daily.co video calls across major browsers. To join, just click on a meeting link in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Mobile users, we have you covered, too. No app is needed — simply open your link in iOS Safari or Android Chrome. See all of our supported browsers here.

It’s a key update. To put it in context:

• Daily.co browser support is best-in-class
• Our group call support stands out. We support up to 4 people in a video call on Firefox and Safari, and up to 50 with smart mute in Chrome
• For power users, Chrome offers dual screen sharing and recording
• Safari, Edge and Firefox support is experimental; Chrome is the most stable experience

1-click video calls

Our goal since launch has been a better user experience for video calls. So from the start we committed to 1-click meetings. That means you don’t have to download any software to join, and your guests aren't asked to create an account or login.

Instead, you simply join the video conference in a browser. We focused on Chrome because, when we launched, it offered the best experience for WebRTC, the technology Daily.co is built on.

Having said that, our own team at Daily.co uses different browsers and operating systems. We eagerly monitored as companies like Apple and Microsoft grew their support for WebRTC. To all the passionate Safari, Firefox, and Edge users out there, we loved the feedback. Thank you for taking the time to reach out!

We’re thrilled to now offer 1-click Daily.co calls on even more browsers. Our first priority is always the user experience, so read on to learn how support for Safari, Edge and Firefox is more limited and experimental.

Comparing the different browsers

How to join a video call is the same across browsers. You quickly can create custom links in your Daily.co dashboard, or use our Slack, or Intercom apps.

To join a video call, just click — or tap! — your meeting link.

As a security precaution, your browser asks you to give Daily.co permission to use your camera and microphone. That’s a good thing — more on that below.

Our in-call features depend on the browser you’re using. Below is a table that highlights the features supported on each browser. See a full-page version of the table here.

Basically, you’ll get all of our video calling features if you join on Chrome — you can screen share, record and join larger calls. To simply join a video conference, Safari and Firefox can be used for calls with up to 4 guests. Edge can be used for 1:1 calls.

The table above reflects countless rounds of feature testing. For Edge, Safari and Firefox, we extensively worked on features not on the list. For example, we came pretty close to letting Firefox users screen share. We really hope we can support screen sharing on Firefox soon! WebRTC support is only growing, and the platform is now key to how video is shared across the world.

Designing with the user in mind

This update lets us serve two overlapping audiences. The Daily.co feature set on Chrome stands out — it’s attracted power video call users who require 1-click links, recording and dual screen sharing. At the same time, a large audience of other users just need to join a small call, and like browsers other than Chrome.

We’re excited about supporting both, and also wanted to make sure users felt in control, and understood the features available across browsers. When you’re rushing into a video call, you don’t always have time to remember what features are where. (And if you’re an invited guest, you likely don’t have advance notice.)

The challenge of this project was balancing 3 different goals:

• Keep the process simple and fast
• Let users join on different browser
• Inform users that Edge, Firefox and Safari support is experimental, with fewer features

We pared it down to quick clicks.

Click a call to join

After you click the meeting link, you see a join screen. It lets you choose how to join the video call — by computer or phone for free users, or TV for our paying hardware customers. For example, if you’re on mobile, you can tap to join with video. Or if dial-in is enabled, we show dial-in details, too.

Edge, Firefox and Safari users then get a heads up about their browsers’ limitations. The text is direct — to be clear, get to the point, and also tell Edge, Firefox and Safari users about screen shares, and call size constraints. Since we’ve supported Chrome for longer, we suggest people use Chrome.

Having said all that, we let you quickly click to enter the video call.

Finally, all browsers ask if you’d like to give Daily.co camera and microphone permissions. That’s a security precaution, which is good. (Your browser should ask this about all tools that want to use your camera and microphone.)

That’s it.

What’s ahead

Thanks again to all the iOS, Android, Edge, Firefox and Safari users out there. We’re looking forward to your feedback, and building out even more features. Seeing someone face-to-face makes video special, and we’re excited to bring it to even more users. Stay tuned, for more news — we're soon releasing a new product. Cheers!