After a long wait, we are delighted to share that our collaborative online whiteboard, Loci, is now in public beta! While there are capacity constraints in place right now that will be progressively relaxed as we roll it out, we hope you’ll still give it a try.
Why should I try Loci? What does it offer?
No sign-in is required to get started with Loci — everyone can get on board quickly and enjoy learning, working, and socialising together online through an intuitive interface. At Tofu Apps, we want to help you avoid the frustration that comes from fighting with the very tools meant to help you. We understand that ideas can surface quickly, and you don’t want to waste any time jumping into a discussion. Thus, we made Loci, and now you don’t have to — meetings can be spontaneous!
Naturally, from the very beginning, we are therefore committed to fast, responsive real-time syncing. Strokes are rendered as they are drawn instead of only on completion, which you may experience with other whiteboard apps. Because laggy syncing is jarring and hinders your tracking of other collaborators’ ideas, this is one key area that we are constantly striving to improve on. We want to provide you with the best collaborative drawing experience possible.
And that’s also why we have worked hard to ensure compatibility with all platforms via any modern browser. We know there’s nothing more annoying than being pushed to download an app when visiting the mobile site or finding out that the site doesn’t work on non-Chrome-based browsers. You can rest assured that this won’t happen with Loci because it is web-first, and we have tested it on all major browsers!
That doesn’t mean that Loci has poorer hardware support than native apps, though! For example, we know that online whiteboards may be hard to use with a regular ol’ mouse, so we have incorporated extensive touch and stylus support in Loci. So, you can doodle across all your mobile and desktop devices, with palm rejection, pressure sensitivity, etc. for your stylus too.
We can go on and on, but here’s something fun for you to try: on Loci, we have a superior user-tracking feature that allows you to follow other users’ viewport automatically. Essentially, it’s an efficient version of screen sharing that consumes much less bandwidth and helps you track other users as they draw and pan around, even across whiteboards in the same room (subject to access permissions, of course). You won’t get lost on an infinite canvas again ;)
What does public beta mean? What’s the road ahead for Loci?
Loci is free to use right now. That may change in the future as we grow to sustain the running of this service. However, we aim to keep a core set of features free — always — because we want this to be accessible to everyone, and we understand that some people who needs this the most are precisely the ones who may not afford to pay.
To provide as best as possible an experience for all, we will also be rolling out Loci progressively. Hence we, unfortunately, have to limit capacity, although we are eager to relax them once we are confident Loci won’t be instantly overwhelmed. You can also look forward to updates to improve the drawing experience (we have many queued!), integration with existing tools (especially those used in schools), and more. We don’t want to over-promise, so that’s all we’ll be announcing for now — but rest assured there’s more to come!
Want to get in touch?
Feel free to reach us directly via our Tofu Apps email or any of our socials if you want to submit bug reports/feature requests, want to support us, or are interested in collaborating with us!
And, if you haven’t yet, you can try out Loci here 👉: https://loci.ink