Doc Chat
WhatsApp-simple messaging for clinics — owned infrastructure, end-to-end encryption, real voice & video.
Doc Chat is a production Flutter messenger for clinics and small businesses. It feels like a familiar chat app on the surface — phone login, threads, status, calls, tasks — but runs on a self-hosted Matrix Synapse homeserver with LiveKit for 1:1 calls, an identity service for OTP + contacts, and business tools (hours, greeting, auto-reply) that consumer apps don't ship.
A business messenger you actually own
Doc Chat rebrands and extends a Matrix client into a clinic-ready product: phone-number onboarding instead of Matrix IDs, unread/unanswered/favourites filters on the chat list, status updates, a Calls tab, chat-linked Tasks, and Business tools for profile, hours, greeting, and away messages. Under the hood it's Flutter talking to Synapse, a custom identity service for OTP and contact sync, and MatrixRTC + LiveKit for voice and video — including CallKit / VoIP push paths for incoming calls.
Clinics need WhatsApp UX without WhatsApp risk
Small clinics and service businesses live in WhatsApp — patients expect phone-number chat, status, and quick calls. But consumer messengers mean no ownership of the server, weak business tooling, and compliance risk around patient or client conversations. Building a credible alternative means matching that UX while controlling the homeserver, encryption, and call stack.
- Patients and clients expect phone OTP login — not @user:homeserver Matrix IDs
- Consumer apps don't give you business hours, greeting, or away auto-replies
- Voice/video has to work in background and killed states (CallKit / VoIP push), not only while the app is open
- Tasks that fall out of chat get lost unless they're linked back to the conversation
Familiar chat UX on owned Matrix + LiveKit infrastructure
I shipped Doc Chat as a full product stack: Flutter client with teal brand theming and WhatsApp-like navigation (Chats, Updates, Calls, Tasks), a Synapse homeserver with JWT login, an identity service for SMS OTP and contact discovery, and LiveKit wired through MatrixRTC for 1:1 calls. Business profile, hours, greeting/away policies, and chat-linked tasks sit on top of Matrix so the product feels like a business messenger — not a raw protocol client.
Everything a clinic messaging app needs day one
- Phone OTP login via a dedicated identity service — no Matrix ID friction for end users
- E2EE 1:1 and group chats on Matrix with familiar thread UI, search, and unread/unanswered/favourites filters
- Voice & video calls on MatrixRTC + LiveKit, with mute/speaker controls and native incoming-call paths
- Status / Updates tab for ephemeral broadcast-style posts
- Tasks linked to chats — Open / Today / Upcoming / Overdue filters and Inbox / Work / Personal lists
- Business tools — public profile, category, hours, greeting message, and away / auto-reply policies
- Contact sync so people find each other by phone number on the same homeserver
- Self-hosted stack: Synapse, LiveKit SFU, JWT service, and identity — runnable locally with Docker Compose
See it in action
Mobile App
From open-source Matrix client to clinic-ready product
- 01
Product framing & brand
Scoped the app around clinic / small-business messaging, replaced the default FluffyChat brand with Doc Chat teal branding (icon, feature graphic, Material color seed #00A884), and aligned copy toward secure business chat.
- 02
Identity & phone onboarding
Built phone login + OTP verification against a custom identity service, with country picker and JWT-backed Synapse login so users never see a homeserver address.
- 03
Core messenger surfaces
Shaped Chats (filters, search, FAB), thread UI, Updates/status, and Calls into a four-tab shell that feels like the messengers people already use.
- 04
Realtime calls
Integrated MatrixRTC signaling with LiveKit for media, plus CallKit / VoIP push and killed-state call actions so incoming calls survive backgrounding.
- 05
Business & task workflows
Added business profile events on Matrix, greeting/away auto-reply policies, and a task store that can attach work items back to a chat contact.
- 06
Local & store-ready packaging
Documented a Docker Compose stack (Synapse, LiveKit, JWT, identity) for local smoke tests, then produced Play Console assets — phone/tablet screenshots, 512 icon, and feature graphic.
Owned realtime stack, not a BaaS chat SDK
Doc Chat is built natively on Android using a focused, modern stack chosen for performance, maintainability, and a clean user experience.
The decisions that shaped the product
Hiding Matrix without losing Matrix
End users get phone OTP and contact sync; operators still get a real Synapse homeserver, federation-capable protocol, and E2EE. The identity service bridges those worlds so the UX never leaks @localpart:server.
Calls that work when the app is killed
Foreground LiveKit sessions aren't enough for a messenger. I wired MatrixRTC member signaling, VoIP push registration, and native incoming-call UI so a ringing call can surface through CallKit / system notifications.
Business features as first-class Matrix state
Profile, hours, products, and labels live as custom Matrix events rather than a parallel CRUD API — so business tooling stays on the same sync engine as chat.
Tasks that don't orphan from conversation
Tasks can reference a chat contact and surface in filters (Today, Overdue, lists), so operational follow-ups stay next to the thread that created them.
Why this project matters
Doc Chat shows LogicsBeat can take a hard realtime problem — secure messaging + VoIP on owned infrastructure — and ship it as a polished, WhatsApp-familiar product for clinics and small businesses. It's not a chat SDK demo: it's Flutter, Synapse, LiveKit, identity, business tools, and store-ready branding working as one system founders can actually deploy.
Have a mobile product idea?
I'm available for client work in Android, mobile product development, and end-to-end app delivery. Let's talk about what you're building.