The privacy-focused browser Brave has just unveiled its new video conferencing platform Brave Talk after a year-long beta phase, built on top of the open-source video meeting platform Jitsi. Like its other products such as Brave Search and News, it’s meant to be as private as possible and can only be fully used through the Brave Browser.

With Talk, Brave users can initiate calls through the new tab page in their browser using a new Brave Talk camera icon or by visiting talk.brave.com. While calls need to be initiated through the Brave browser, invitees can use any modern browser they want to to join.

Unlike Zoom and other providers, which Brave accuses of monitoring calls, metadata, and images shared in calls, Talk will enable users to enable “multiple layers of encryption,” ensuring calls aren’t eavesdropped by anyone. Its servers also don’t save metadata, leaving little to no traces of calls behind. Like many other video calling services, Brave Talk doesn’t require you to install extensions or extra apps. It works with open-source WebRTC technology provided by Jitsi.

While one-to-one calls are going to be free, hosting calls for three or more people will require the premium version. It will cost $7 per month and allow advanced features like call recording, hosting tools like muting participants and requiring entry passcodes, and more for “calls with hundreds of people.”

With Brave’s lineup now consisting of a search engine, a news aggregator, and a videoconferencing platform, it’s clear that the company has ambitions to become a fully featured, privacy-focused competitor to Google, Microsoft, and other big players. But with past mishaps like Brave being caught injecting potentially user-identifying referral codes into some cryptocurrency trading sites, only time will tell how well the company will fare with this privacy-first approach.

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