Root: Built for Community

I really like the look and mission of this app, and I know it’s still new and likely a small team behind it and I wish you guys well on that mission as I’d love for this to be where my friends and I can stay in the long term. There are some things here and there where cracks show in it being a newer app, such as errors giving general info but not telling you why it’s not working. I tried sending a photo that’s 17MB big and got a file size error, after much research it’s because it was a RAW file, not the size. And my server that I just started so it’s just me and two apps I’ve added says there are 4 people online… but even if I include the two apps there’s no fourth person. Even the member list only shows 3 members, so 4 is definitely wrong. Upon downloading this on my PC I found out this was a Chromium app and that immediately feels against the sales pitch I was given about the platform being private and secure. And for that reason alone, my friends are not jumping with me to Root.

I just downloaded the app to try it as an alternative to discord and it seems simple and way less bloated than discord, however one big issue I noticed right away is that there are no voice/volume settings for when I am in a call. A friend was streaming a game and I was on my phone (iPhone) but I could not hear anyone talking while they were streaming the game because the volume was so loud. I couldn’t leave the video or stop viewing it any way, nor could I turn the stream volume down/off. I also noticed I couldn’t edit my microphone settings at all. I know this app is in its infancy, I have high hopes, but PLEASE add some sort of volume settings for iPhone!

Okay I’ve tested it out here are the ups and downs: (All on mobile) 1. The multiple reply’s is amazing 2. You can choose which role is on top so no need for 15 extra color roles if your a owner or admin 3. It’s ui is very user friendly, even with no guide I got it down instantly 4. It’s just like discord with its in chat ui, but without the shameless nitro button and it has a button to quickly bold italicize and what I believe is spoiling 5. You can literally transfer over your old discord server into a root server using the template link discord gives you! Some noticeable bad things: 1. There is no saving gifs, and gifs appear with the link and the embed 2. There are no sound effects on call, as in, joining leaving muting etc. and no talking bubble (I haven’t used the vc much so idk if it does or doesn’t but through my test it doesn’t) 3. If a big video is sent, it takes a bit for it to load 4. Big one: I tried using an link embedder (you know, how you send large videos without sending the video) and it didn’t work (that be it I was using x266 so I don’t know if others work, but I believe embedded links of all kind should work) Some neutrals: Its upload size is capped but bigger than discord! Idk how big though, this should be clarified