Ending our basic calls product in June 2020

UPDATES

• The Daily.co Intercom app is not affected by the software end of service. You can still use it after the below changes go into effect. ‍

We’re making key changes here at Daily.co. In June 2020, our team and company is focused on our API. This means all our video calls are part of our API.

Specifically, we’re ending our free basic calls support in late June 2020. (If you use our API, there are no changes, other than we’re adding features and rapidly moving ahead. TV customers, please go here to learn more.)

Below we lay out these changes, which affect basic calls. That's our free software product (like Skype, for example).

• Product, pricing and feature changes, and key next steps
• A list of video calling tools
• How to delete your Daily.co account
• Heads up for TV customers
• Quick API news

These pricing and feature changes are part of an overall dashboard redesign, to focus on the API for developers. We’ll post an update specifically about that redesign, and how the new dashboard will work. This post details pricing and feature changes for basic call users in particular.

How our products are changing

We build 1-click video call technology. Since our team began, we’ve supported different products for no download calls: a dedicated TV hardware system, basic calls (our free software), and the API. We feel fortunate to have supported so many great teams and users. Thank you so much.

It’s now time for us to make changes. With our June product update, we're focused on our API, which is a tool for developers building video chat. There's a whole new generation of video calling. These new apps are delightful, more suited to how we live now, and really useful. Our API goal is to support the developers building new video calling for you.

COVID intensified this need: the demand for new video apps has increased. Developers and product teams are working hard to design tools relevant to how we all live and work now. When we first launched the API, we had left up the free video calls. As we said in an email to our free users, we’ve really enjoyed working with all of you!

That does take resources, though, so we're focusing, in order to provide a great product. We hope our API means we’re helping developers deliver more video calling options, for everybody.

Here’s a quick overview of what this product update means:

1. Our basic call product was our free end-user software. It was like using Skype or Zoom or Hangouts, for example. You signed up, created links, and clicked to join. This is the product that is changing.

2. The Daily.co API is our tool for developers, builders and product teams. We offer rapid and powerful ways developers can add or customize video chat. See our new posts like building with React, room access control, and multilanguage call support.

3. We’re winding down support for our TV hardware customers. It ends October 31, 2020. We’ve stopped billing, so you have 5+ months free transition.

Pricing and feature changes for basic call accounts

The new Daily dashboard ships, tentatively, late June 2020.

1. Dashboard design: Again, a quick heads up that the dashboard will focus on the developer experience.

2. Dashboard login: Anyone with a Daily.co account will still be able to log into their dashboard. (Of course you can ask us to delete all your data, delete@daily.co)

3. Current room access: Your Daily.co room links created prior to this June update will not be deleted with this update. You still will have access to your old rooms.

4. Pricing: Depending on your usage, you may be charged for video calls in the future.

• All users are charged according to our API model. It has free and upgrade tiers. The tiers are based on a few things like: (1) the number of participant-minutes, (2) your room count, and (3) call features.‍
• See API pricing here. We wrote a blog post with pricing examples here.

5. A key concept to understand is participant-minutes.

• Your minute limit is not based on meeting time. It’s participant-minutes, which is a bigger number.
• Briefly, a participant-minute is how long each participant was in the call. The pricing is based on the total minutes, of all participants, in a call. For example, a 2 person call that’s 30 minutes is 60 participant-minutes. The formula is: (n * minutes), where n is the number of people in call. Learn more.

6. Free API tier as of June 2020.

• See the pricing page, as well as the blog post with examples.
• Free accounts will have room, monthly minute and feature limits. When you go beyond your monthly limit, you’re charged for additional minutes.
• Having said that, your current rooms will be exempt from the new pricing. No rooms created before June 2020 will be deleted.
• Recording is now an upgrade feature. When we launched cloud recording, we noted in the future this would be a paid feature. No free room (whether old or new) will have recording.
• Dial-in is limited to custom enterprise pricing. To clarify, this is audio-only dial-in. We do support mobile users joining the video call. No free room (whether old or new) will have dial-in.

7. Recording access

• When this new dashboard is released, only admins will be able to download recordings from the dashboard.
• Please make sure to download your recordings before then if you’re not an admin! If you are not an admin, you will not see recordings in your dashboard view after this late June update.
• To clarify, recording access via the API doesn't change. Anyone can still download recording with our API.

Next steps for basic call users

If you’d like to delete your account, we understand! Email delete@daily.co For other users:

1. Only admins can access recordings from the dashboard. If you’re not an admin, please download your recordings before the June update! Or use the API to download recordings in the future.

2. Nothing happens to your current rooms, created before the June update, so you don’t need to do anything there.

3. Just keep in mind if you hit a room limit, you have to upgrade to create new rooms. You'll also have to upgrade if you use more than the minutes allowed in the free tier.

4. Similarly, if you use cloud recording, please upgrade.

‍Video calling tools‍

Do you just want to know about neat video call software solutions and apps? We hear you. There are lots of good tools out there. Keeping in mind there are free tools (like Google), there also are interesting new video chat apps.

Here’s a quick list of some neat tools, which we think showcase different ways to use video.

• Kinoko Chat is an easy and secure way for families to video chat through the TV. They are currently accepting a limited amount of beta reservations. Reserve yours today.
• Civic Dinners brings people together for conversations that matter. Join virtual conversations.
• Focusmate is virtual coworking that helps you get things done. It pairs you up with accountability partners.
• Standuply automates management systems via Slack, like asynchronous reports, and also brings experienced mentors on board to challenge your team.
• Tandem is a virtual office for remote teams. See, talk to and collaborate with your teams with 1-click.

InstantVisio does wonderful work. It's a video chat tool for nurses, caregivers and families impacted by COVID. If you're building a free solution to help with the pandemic, we're glad to help! Contact us.

This is a short list, focused on consumer and core video calling use cases. Do you have specific needs? There are new tools, across industries — real estate, learning apps, customer support, local business platforms, online events, customer support, telehealth and more. Fill out this form, to let us know what you're looking for.

How to delete your Daily.co account

We’re glad to delete your Daily.co account for you. All your data is erased from our system. Any recordings will be deleted immediately! Just email delete@daily.co. Thanks for your patience as we help everyone.

TV customers

Many thanks to our TV customers. As part of this change, Daily.co TV service ends October 31, 2020. Billing is suspended. Your service is free, with 5+ free months to transition.

Please read this TV post for important details. As it notes, you must send us your Daily.co subdomain by June 1 to get free service.

Quick API news

We’ve expanded our free API tier. Previously, it was limited to 1:1 calls. Free tier API calls now support up to 200 participants. This means developers can better test different use cases.

And we’re rapidly releasing new features. Check out some of our recent work and blog posts:

• Build a custom video chat app with React
• An introduction to room access controls
• Our multilanguage support includes French, Dutch, German, Finnish, Portuguese and more.
• We’re adding live streaming support, tracks subscriptions, and faster push-to-talk. Contact us to learn more.

Working on all our releases has been the kind of experience that inspires product teams. We feel really fortunate to have supported all our users. Thank you!

For free software users, we hope the tools we noted above are useful. And to all our users, we’re excited to help developers build great new video chat apps for you, and users everywhere. Thanks again.