Call Duration

How long a call lasted is measured on the server, between CallAnswered and CallEnded, so a crashed tab, a closed laptop or a phone that lost signal still produces a correct number. The browser's timer is for display.

Where it appears

Event::listen(CallEnded::class, fn (CallEnded $e) => $e->duration);   // seconds, or null if never answered

Beam::find($id)?->duration();    // of a live call, so far; null before it is answered

$e->duration;                    // ParticipantLeft — how long that person was in the room

How it is measured

Each browser posts a heartbeat every call.heartbeat seconds (30 by default) with its state. The first heartbeat saying connected stamps answeredAt and fires CallAnswered — once, whichever side reports first. hangUp() from either browser, or end() on the server, stamps endedAt and fires CallEnded with the difference.

When neither browser can report — both closed, both offline — the timeout driver notices: a call nothing has heartbeated for three heartbeat intervals (ninety seconds with the defaults) is ended with reason connection-lost, and endedAt is the last heartbeat received, not the moment the sweep ran. That is the honest figure: the ninety seconds of silence it takes to establish that a call is gone are not talking time, and one heartbeat interval is the most it can be off by.

In the browser

call.on('tick', ({ seconds }) => timer.textContent = `${Math.floor(seconds / 60)}:${String(seconds % 60).padStart(2, '0')}`);
call.duration;   // the same number, on demand

useBeam() in Vue and React exposes it as duration. Show it; store the server's.

Made with ❤️ from Pakistan