Calling Integration

Add voice and video calling to your Android UI Kit application using chatuikit-kotlin or chatuikit-jetpack.

Overview

This guide walks you through adding voice and video calling capabilities to your Android application using the CometChat UI Kit.

Make sure you’ve completed the Getting Started guide before proceeding.

enableCalling: true makes the Calls SDK dependency mandatory — otherwise the app crashes at launch. With the flag set, CometChatUIKit.initFromSettings() calls initCometChatCalls(), which throws if com.cometchat:calls-sdk-android is absent:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of:
  Lcom/cometchat/calls/core/CometChatCalls$SessionSettingsBuilder;
    at com.cometchat.uikit.core.CometChatUIKit.initCometChatCalls(CometChatUIKit.kt:229)

The crash happens in onCreate, before any UI renders — the flag name gives no hint that a dependency is implied. Change the flag and the dependency together, or leave enableCalling as false in an app that does not use calling.

Add the Calls SDK

Add the CometChat Calls SDK dependency alongside your chosen UI Kit module:

Kotlin (XML Views)

build.gradle.kts

dependencies {
    implementation("com.cometchat:chatuikit-kotlin-android:6.0.3")
    implementation("com.cometchat:calls-sdk-android:5.0.1")
}

Jetpack Compose

build.gradle.kts

dependencies {
    implementation("com.cometchat:chatuikit-compose-android:6.0.3")
    implementation("com.cometchat:calls-sdk-android:5.0.1")
}

After adding this dependency, the Android UI Kit will automatically detect it and activate the calling features. You will see the CometChatCallButtons component rendered in the MessageHeader component.

Set Up Call Listener

To receive incoming calls globally in your app, add a CallListener before initializing the CometChat UI Kit. We recommend creating a custom Application class:

Kotlin (XML Views)

class BaseApplication : Application() {
    companion object {
        private val LISTENER_ID = "${BaseApplication::class.java.simpleName}${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
    }

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        CometChat.addCallListener(LISTENER_ID, object : CometChat.CallListener {
            override fun onIncomingCallReceived(call: Call) {
                // Get the current activity context
                val currentActivity = getCurrentActivity() // Implement this method

                currentActivity?.let {
                    val incomingCallView = CometChatIncomingCall(it)
                    incomingCallView.call = call
                    incomingCallView.fitsSystemWindows = true
                    incomingCallView.onError = OnError { exception ->
                        // Handle errors
                    }

                    // Display the component (e.g., as dialog or full-screen overlay)
                }
            }

            override fun onOutgoingCallAccepted(call: Call) {
                // Handle accepted outgoing call
            }

            override fun onOutgoingCallRejected(call: Call) {
                // Handle rejected outgoing call
            }

            override fun onIncomingCallCancelled(call: Call) {
                // Handle cancelled incoming call
            }
        })
    }
}

Jetpack Compose

class BaseApplication : Application() {
    companion object {
        private val LISTENER_ID = "${BaseApplication::class.java.simpleName}${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
    }

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        CometChat.addCallListener(LISTENER_ID, object : CometChat.CallListener {
            override fun onIncomingCallReceived(call: Call) {
                CometChatCallActivity.launchIncomingCallScreen(this@BaseApplication, call, null)
                // Pass null or IncomingCallConfiguration if need to configure CometChatIncomingCall component
            }

            override fun onOutgoingCallAccepted(call: Call) {
                // Handle accepted outgoing call
            }

            override fun onOutgoingCallRejected(call: Call) {
                // Handle rejected outgoing call
            }

            override fun onIncomingCallCancelled(call: Call) {
                // Handle cancelled incoming call
            }
        })
    }
}