this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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They added that recently (element-call audio only i mean) its the phone icon at the top
I think the video call rooms (always open channels) remember your preference but im not sure rn
I don't see that. Video, Threads, Room Info, People is all I have at the top of my rooms.
Thats weird? ~~What version of element-desktop are you on? If its element-web it could be that your server is running a outdated version.~~ Its only available in DMs not groupchats. It was added back in december https://github.com/element-hq/element-desktop/releases/tag/v1.12.5
Oh right, nice catch. Yeah I only use it as a Discord alternative, so no audio calls for me yet.
Anyway, audio calls in that way aren't quite what I'm after anyway. They'll work. They'll do the job. Just like the existing video calls with webcams turned off do the job. But the Discord style chat room with an assumption of audio only on voice detection, with robust screensharing (including PC audio!) capabilities in an otherwise audio-only call is what I'm really after.
Yeah the video rooms feature is most of that but not quite. The "call" always stays open so you can join and wait until others join without disrupting them. It has good screensharing but no option to share your output audio. You have to turn off the webcam before joining. The voice detection thing would be cool as an optional thing because it can also cause problems. I just use a filter plugin for that on my computer.
Yeah the last thing you didn't bring up was screen share. I've found Element's screen sharing to be rather lacklustre. It's share whole screen only, rather than having application or game-specific sharing (and Discord's gamer-specific feature of detecting you're in a game and immediately surfacing the option to share that is excellent here). And when I've used it, I've found audio from the game doesn't make it through, and I'm not sure if it's possible (I've never really tried looking through all the deep options) to send game audio while also having your mic, without using third-party software to mix the two together into one stream—which would necessarily break your choice detection filter.
You can definitely select a specific application to share, at least on linux, but it should be the same on windows. Ive used to share my gameplay with friends before like that. But yeah other than mixing your desktop audio into a virtual input, you cant currently share application/desktop audio.
I tried starting an audio call (had a telephone icon) yesterday but it turned on my webcam without prompting. Didn't see a setting for it not to do that, and that's a wild default.