How can I implement live astrology consultation using WebRTC in Flutter?

[elianacammy]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Apps

Body

I'm developing an astrology app in Flutter where users can book appointments with astrologers and start a one-to-one live video consultation after the booking is confirmed.

The application includes:

Flutter mobile app
Node.js backend
Firebase Authentication
PostgreSQL database

I'm planning to use the flutter_webrtc package, but I'm confused about the signaling implementation and connection management.

My requirements are:

One-to-one video consultation
Appointment-based call initiation
Camera and microphone controls
Network reconnection handling
Secure communication between users and astrologers

My questions are:

What is the recommended signaling solution for Flutter (WebSocket, Socket.IO, or Firebase)?
How should SDP offers, answers, and ICE candidates be exchanged?
What are the best practices for handling reconnection during network interruptions?
How can I optimize WebRTC performance for production use?

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[v-ember]

Hey there! 👋

Thanks for posting in the GitHub Community, @elianacammy ! You are more likely to get a useful response if you are posting in the applicable category. The Apps, API and Webhooks category is a place for our community to discuss and provide feedback GitHub's APIs and webhooks. GitHub provides two APIs: a REST API and a GraphQL API. Webhooks allow you to build or set up integrations, such as GitHub Apps or OAuth Apps, which subscribe to certain events on GitHub.com

I've gone ahead and moved this to the correct category for you. Good luck!

[AhmadHassan-BTed]

Skip Firebase, it's overkill for this.

1. Signaling
   Use Socket.IO. It plays nice with Node.js, handles rooms perfectly, and is way faster than writing to a DB for signaling.

2. The Flow
   Keep it simple:
   i. Caller makes Offer -> Server relays -> Callee.
   ii. Callee makes Answer -> Server relays -> Caller.
   iii. Trade ICE candidates back and forth as they come in. Done.

3. Reconnecting
   Don't build custom stuff. Just create a new offer, set iceRestart: true, and signal it. WebRTC handles the rest.

4. Pro Tips

• TURN is non-negotiable: Use coturn on a VPS. If you skip this, mobile users on 4G/5G will have failed connections constantly.
• Keep it lean: Your signaling messages should just be tiny JSON objects (type, sdp, candidate). Don't stuff blobs in there.
• Track state: Use your Postgres DB to log call status (dialing, connected, etc.) so you don't have people trying to join sessions that already ended.