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Air (voice/video chat)

«Air» is voice and video chat built right into a session. When you want to talk through a card reading with your voice, you don't have to jump out into Zoom or a phone call – the call works in the same tab, on top of the shared card table.

Why it exists

When you work with cards as a pair or a small group (up to 4 people), it's often nicer to not only see the same table but also hear each other. Before Air, this meant keeping a separate call open in another tab. Now it's all in one place.

Air is good when: - you're running a session for a client and want to talk through their card pick by voice while staying in contact with the table; - you're working with a partner or close person at a distance and want to see their face; - two or three facilitators are discussing a deck or rehearsing an exercise.

Air is not the right tool for: - large groups and lectures – there's a 4-participant limit for now; - recording sessions – we deliberately don't record audio or video.

How to turn it on

In the lower-left corner of the table there's a round button with a radio icon. Click it – a floating Air panel opens. This means «I'm in Air mode»: your name is now visible to other participants as a card in their Air panel, even if they haven't opened the panel yet.

The mode itself doesn't transmit any audio yet. To start being heard and seeing others, click «Go on air» in the bottom control bar. The browser will ask permission for microphone and camera – grant both. Then: - your card in the panel gets a green pulse indicator; - participants who also have Air on will see your video and hear your voice; - you'll see the video of those who are already on air.

If you're the first one on air, that's fine – just wait for others to join. The actual audio/video connection between two users starts the moment the second one also clicks «Go on air».

What's in the Air panel

  • Grid of cards – one per participant. Yours is always first. A participant who's not on air shows just an avatar and name.
  • Green pulsing dot – you are on air right now, you can be heard.
  • Grey dot – you're in Air mode but not on air.
  • Microphone icon – toggles audio.
  • Camera icon – toggles video.
  • Yellow border on someone else's card – they're talking right now.

You can drag the panel by the grid area to any corner. The bottom-right corner is a resize handle. The small chevron arrow collapses the panel down to a thin strip with just the controls – handy when you want to free up space for cards but stay on air. The × button exits Air mode entirely (video and audio turn off, your card disappears from others).

The panel's position and size are remembered in your browser – you'll find it where you left it next time.

Who can use it

Air is a premium feature. But we want every signed-in user to be able to try it without paying, so we set up a weekly free allowance. As long as it isn't used up, Air works for everyone with an account.

While the allowance lasts, a badge next to the button shows how many minutes you have used this week and when it resets. Five minutes before the end you get the warning "Free Air time is running out".

Anonymous users (not signed in) can't open Air – you'll get a prompt to sign in via Google or Yandex. We need this to track the free allowance properly.

Limits for non-premium

  • 180 minutes per week per user. Only minutes spent on air count, not time with the panel open.
  • 5000 minutes per week platform-wide. Shared free pool.
  • Reset – every Monday at 00:00 UTC.

Before your personal limit runs out you get the warning "Free Air time is running out" with the minutes left. When it does run out, your current call does not drop and you can finish it peacefully. New Air sessions this week will show "Weekly free time used up": access resets on Monday.

With premium there are no limits.

Privacy

  • We don't record audio or video. At all. No files, no archives, no transcripts. This is a deliberate architectural choice, not a setting – the corresponding service simply isn't part of our deployment.
  • What we do store: only session metadata (participation duration, your name, whether you're premium). We need this for the weekly limits and anti-abuse. When you delete your account, these records are deleted with it.
  • Voice and video transmission happens in real time through our media server (LiveKit) – it runs on our own VPS, not at an external provider.
  • Camera and microphone are requested at the moment you click «Go on air», not when you open the Air panel. So you can open the panel and stay invisible – no permission prompts will appear.

The full text about voice and video handling is in the privacy policy.

When something doesn't work

  • The browser isn't showing your video to others. Check that you granted camera permission – next to the lock icon in the address bar there should be two green checkmarks for camera and mic. If you blocked them – click the lock, grant access, reload the tab.
  • I don't hear anyone, although the panel shows green dots. Most likely the page itself is muted (speaker icon on the tab). Or your system mixer is muted. Check that first.
  • Connection dropped during a call. When the WS connection comes back, we deliberately don't return you to air automatically – a banner appears «you were on air, continue?». Click «Return» to reconnect. This is for privacy – your mic should not spontaneously turn on after a page refresh without your knowledge.
  • Clicking «Go on air» does nothing, and a second later a toast says «too often, try again in N sec». That's the spam protection kicking in – wait the indicated time and try again.
  • You see "Platform weekly limit reached". This week's shared free pool is used up. Until Monday, Air is available only to premium.
  • You see "Server busy". Too many people are on Air right now. Try again in a minute.
  • You see "Weekly free time used up". Your own 180 minutes are spent; access resets on Monday.

The Air subdomain

Air connects to a dedicated subdomain on each brand:

  • air.makcards.online for makcards.online accounts.
  • air.journalingapp.app for journalingapp.app accounts.

You don't navigate there yourself – the browser opens a WebSocket to that host as soon as you enter Air mode. If a corporate firewall blocks it, Air will fail to connect and you'll see a connection error in the panel. Whitelist the subdomain matching your brand and the issue goes away.

Supported browsers

Any modern browser with WebRTC: current Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Yandex Browser. iOS Safari on mobile – also works (camera/mic permissions are asked the same way).

Internet Explorer and old Opera Mini are not supported – there's no WebRTC there.

Lectures and large groups

Right now Air is for intimate conversations of 2-4 people. If you need a lecture, masterclass or webinar format with dozens of participants – that's a separate story, and we plan to ship it as a separate feature. For now, use a third-party tool (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams), Air won't handle that scenario.