Edparty is a nostalgic throwback to the early days of spontaneous group video chat, before group FaceTime existed. Edparty is inspired by Houseparty, but with a twist: everyone connects directly to me.
- React Native + Expo — for quick cross-platform mobile app development
- WebRTC — for real-time video communication
- Node.js Signaling Server (separate repo) — coordinates WebRTC connections using WebSockets
- Twilio — STUN/TURN server infrastructure
- JWT Auth — secure and stateless user authentication
- Users launch the app and authenticate via JWT.
- A connection is made to a custom Node.js backend via WebSockets.
- WebRTC sessions are established using Twilio’s STUN/TURN services.
- Everyone who joins connects into a single shared group call, which is only possible when I'm online.
- Users are notified when Ed joins the call so they can quickly join the party if they aren't already active.
This was originally written as a fun side project in 2020 with class based react components, but I have recently started updating to a more modern React Native architecture in 2025.