How do I add video calling to my app without building WebRTC from scratch

The easiest way is to use a managed video API/SDK instead of implementing WebRTC yourself. That gives you camera/mic handling, signaling, NAT traversal, SFU/MCU infrastructure, adaptive bitrate, recording, and more without building the real-time media stack from scratch.

Common approaches

1. Use a hosted video API/SDK

Best if you want to ship fast.

Popular options:

• Agora
• Twilio Video
• Daily
• Vonage Video API
• Dolby.io
• 100ms
• LiveKit Cloud
• Sendbird Calls
• Zoom Video SDK (for app-embedded video)

What you typically get:

• Prebuilt SDKs for iOS/Android/Web/React Native/Flutter
• Room/session management
• Signaling handled for you
• TURN/STUN infrastructure
• Multiparty calls, screen sharing, recording
• Network adaptation and reconnection logic

2. Use a self-hosted WebRTC stack

Best if you need control, custom infra, or want to reduce vendor dependency.

Common choices:

• LiveKit
• Jitsi
• mediasoup
• Janus
• Pion server components

You still use WebRTC, but you don’t build the entire system from scratch. You run your own servers and integrate their SDKs.

3. Build only the app logic, not the media stack

You can combine:

• a video SDK for media transport
• your own backend for auth, rooms, permissions, billing, moderation, etc.

This is often the best architecture.

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What you need in your app

Even with a video SDK, you usually need:

• Authentication: who can join calls
• Room/session creation
• Access tokens: signed tokens from your backend
• UI: call screens, mute/unmute, camera switch, screen share
• Push notifications for incoming calls
• Backend events: call started/ended, participants joined/left

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Typical implementation flow

1. User taps “Start call”
2. Your backend creates a room or session
3. Backend generates a short-lived access token
4. Client joins the room with the SDK
5. SDK handles audio/video transport and connectivity
6. Your app reacts to events like participant join/leave

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Example architecture

• Mobile/Web app: UI + SDK
• Your backend: auth, room management, tokens
• Video provider: media infrastructure
• Database: call metadata, logs, permissions

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If you want the simplest path

For fastest MVP:

• Daily or Agora or Twilio Video
• Use their prebuilt SDK and token auth

For more control and better unit economics:

• LiveKit self-hosted or cloud
• Good balance of developer experience and flexibility

For browser-native open-source stack:

• Jitsi if you want a ready-made conferencing solution

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Things to compare before choosing

• Pricing per minute/user
• Web and mobile SDK quality
• Screen sharing support
• Recording and live streaming
• Group call scale
• Latency and global regions
• E2EE support
• Analytics and call quality monitoring
• Ease of self-hosting vs managed

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Recommendation

If you’re building a product and not a video infrastructure company, don’t build WebRTC from scratch. Pick a video API/SDK and focus on your app’s experience.

If you tell me:

• your platform (web, iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native)
• 1:1 or group calls
• expected scale
• whether you want hosted or self-hosted

…I can recommend the best provider and a basic integration plan.