Reinventing Video Calls with Roger

I’m part of a small software team, and we deal with a lot of friction when communicating with each other. Either we have to type out what we want to say in Slack or e-mail (WTF, it’s 2017…we still have to type our messages?) or go through the annoyances of a Skype session—which includes scheduling a call, dialing, waiting for someone to pick up, concluding the call, and so on.
It felt like we were spending half the time accommodating the app rather than doing what we’re using the app to do in the first place: communicating.
So we decided to build something that cut out all the cruft and allowed us to speak naturally—with the speed and fidelity of a face-to-face, without having to sit next to each other.
After months of toil and testing, we are so excited to present to you our newest creation, Roger: the very first push-to-video talk solution for your desktop.

It works just like a video walkie talkie—no typing, no dialing, waiting for an answer, or scheduling a call. It’s crazy easy to use:
- Simply hold down on your contact’s bubble and start talking. That’s it!

2. They’ll see and hear you on their desktop right away. If they want to respond, they just hold down and start talking as well.

For us, Roger has completely replaced Slack and e-mail for day-to-day communication. We use the text-based apps only for integrations, copy+pasting, and sharing small files (though we’ll soon be using Roger for the latter, too). We hardly ever use Skype anymore.

By cutting out many of the unnecessary steps of antiquated tools, we’ve managed to make video calling faster, more accessible, and most importantly—more natural. It’s as close as you can get to sitting next to someone, without sitting next to them.
Also, if you call Roger directly, you get a random puppy gif.

Roger has been a massive breath of fresh air for us, and we think it will be for you, too. Check it out at:
- useroger.com
- or download directly from the Mac App Store.
Much love from the Roger Team!
~Scott
