Most of us live in one of two modes when it comes to video communication. Either we schedule a call, hope the other person is free, and sit through awkward silences waiting for the connection to stabilize. Or we post something to a feed, throw it at hundreds of followers, and lose any sense of actual intimacy. Neither feels right for a genuine one-on-one moment. There has to be something in between.
That middle ground is exactly what Grove is trying to occupy. It combines private video mail, where you record a clip and the other person watches it when they’re ready, with instant live video rooms for when a real-time conversation makes more sense. No phone numbers required. No public feed. Just two people connecting through a simple secure @username system.
The project is currently in beta, built by Colin Ilgen, who describes his motivation plainly: video chat felt too demanding and social video felt too public for honest 1:1 moments. Grove is his attempt to fix both problems at once, and it’s already live on Mac, PC, at grovevideo.com and coming soon to browsers, Chrome and Safari.
What Grove Actually Does: A Closer Look at the Features
@Username Video Mail
The core of Grove is its video mail system. You find someone by their @username, record a short video message, and send it. They get it when they’re ready to watch, not when you happen to be free at the same time. It’s the video equivalent of leaving a voicemail, but far more personal and without the phone number exchange that most people find uncomfortable when connecting with someone new.
Instant Live Video Rooms
Sometimes async just doesn’t cut it. Grove includes live video chatrooms that you can spin up immediately when a real-time conversation is the better option. There’s no scheduling required, no calendar invite, no waiting room. Share your @username, the other person joins, and you’re live. It keeps the same private, number-free approach as the video mail side of the product. It’s also worth mentioning Grove operates as VPN tunnel system so video chats and chatrooms are never exposed.
Username-Based Privacy
This detail deserves its own mention. Grove deliberately keeps phone numbers out of the picture. You connect through @usernames, which means you control who can reach you and how. It’s a small design choice that makes a real difference, especially for people who want to stay connected without handing out personal contact details to everyone they meet online.
Coming Soon: Video Answering Machine and Browser Extensions
Colin mentioned in conversation that a video answering machine feature is in development, which would let senders leave a video message even when you’re not logged in. Custom browser extensions for Chrome and Safari are also on the roadmap. For a beta product, the pipeline looks genuinely interesting rather than just speculative. For example there are features that allow you to integrate Grove video links witin your Gmail Signaure and Outlook signature. Send a video memo. It’s just that easy and it works.
Mia at 9pm: A Real Use Case for Video Mail
Mia, a freelance graphic designer based in Austin, has a close friend named Priya who moved to Berlin two years ago. The time difference is seven hours. Scheduling a call means one of them is either starting their morning groggy or staying up past midnight. They tried texting. It felt flat. They tried WhatsApp voice notes. Better, but still missing the facial expressions and eye contact that made their friendship feel real.
At around 9pm on a Tuesday, Mia opened Grove on her laptop, pulled up Priya’s @username, and recorded a two-minute video about a freelance project she was excited about. She hit send and went to bed. Priya woke up the next morning in Berlin, made her coffee, and watched the clip at 7am her time. She recorded a reply right then, while the conversation was still fresh, and sent it back.
By the time Mia checked her phone at noon Austin time, there was a video reply waiting. The whole exchange took less than five minutes of actual effort across two continents, and both of them felt like they’d actually talked. No scheduling. No awkward lag. Just two people passing a video back and forth like a letter, but one where you can see the other person’s face light up.
How Grove Works: From Sign-Up to Sending
Step 1: Create a Free Account
Head to the Grove website and register with your email and a chosen @username. The handle needs to be at least three characters, since that’s how people search for you. There’s no phone number field in the signup flow.
Step 2: Share Your Username
Once you’re in, share your @username with whoever you want to connect with. They search for it inside Grove and that’s the entire handshake. No contact syncing, no mutual follow requests, no algorithmic approval.
Step 3: Record and Send, or Go Live
From your Grove dashboard, you can choose to record a video message and send it as video mail, or open a live room if the other person is available right now. The interface is minimal and the choice between async and live stays front and center, which keeps the product from feeling cluttered.
Step 4: Watch, Reply, Repeat
Incoming video mail sits in your inbox until you’re ready to watch it. Replies follow the same flow: record, send, done. The back-and-forth builds up naturally into something that feels more like a real conversation than a thread of typed messages.
Who Should Try Grove
Grove is a good fit for anyone who finds scheduled video calls too rigid and text messaging too thin for the relationships that actually matter to them. Long-distance friendships, remote teams who want more warmth in their check-ins, creators who want a direct line to collaborators without sharing personal numbers. The beta is free, so the barrier to trying it is basically zero. Give it a look at grovevideo.com and see whether video mail feels like the missing piece you didn’t know you needed.
