Voice chat
Voice chat in LocalUniverse is proximity-based. There are no rooms, channels, or invites. You walk near someone, your mics open. You walk away, they fade out.
How proximity voice works
Each avatar has a small audible radius. When two avatars overlap, both their mics are live to each other. Volume falls off smoothly with distance — quieter when you're farther apart, silent when you're outside the radius.
This makes the hub feel like a hallway or a coffeeshop instead of a Zoom call. Side conversations happen naturally; you don't have to manually leave a "room" to stop being in someone's audio.
Permissions
LU asks for microphone permission the first time you walk into proximity range with another avatar. You can:
- Grant once and forget
- Deny and stay text-only (you can still hear others if they speak; you just can't broadcast)
- Revoke anytime from your browser's site settings
Mic is off by default until you opt in. LU doesn't listen in the background.
Controls
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Push to talk | V (toggleable in settings) |
| Mute mic | M |
| Mute others | Click their name in Tab list |
| Deafen | Ctrl+M / ⌘M |
By default, the mic stays open while you're in proximity. If you'd rather only transmit when you actively press a key, switch to push-to-talk in settings.
Privacy
Proximity audio is peer-to-peer where possible (over WebRTC). Streams are encrypted in transit. We don't store your voice — there is no recording, no transcript, no archive. The only audio that exists is the live stream between two browsers, and it ends the moment one of you walks away or closes the tab.