Meet Sylaps, a voice-over-IP startup that lets you start phone calls without giving out your phone number. Sylaps is all about making it as seamless as possible to start a phone call with people you don’t know.
The startup has desktop and mobile apps for all major platforms — OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. You can create a conversation and invite someone from the app. People who don’t use Sylaps receive a link and can click on it to join the call from their browser.
Sylaps relies on WebRTC, that’s how the company can work on all platforms. It’s an open standard that works natively in your browser without having to install a plugin or an app.
You can start audio calls, video calls with just one or multiple people using Sylaps. There is a chat next to the call window so that you can exchange links for example. You can also send files.
But the best part is that file sharing and chat also work from your phone browser. You get the full experience on all platforms, which reduces friction across the board.
The startup also goes into much details about its security features. You can talk freely using Sylaps as the company won’t try to find out what you’re talking about. In particular, media communications are encrypted.
Sylaps competes with communications heavyweights, such as Skype and Google Hangouts. Conference call companies have tried the link approach, but Sylaps works well with one-on-one conversations too. The startup’s sleek approach makes it stand out from its competition. The startup doesn’t try to do everything, but it does a few things well.

