Squad Line

Squad Line is a patented interactive voice calling system built into the Squad Sports SDK. It enables real-time voice conversations between fans with unique interactive features that go beyond a standard voice call.

Patent Status: Squad Line's interactive calling system — including custom call titles, real-time floating emoji reactions, and contextual call experiences — is covered by pending patent applications.

How It Works

Squad Line allows fans to call each other directly within the app. Unlike standard VoIP, Squad Line calls include:

• Custom Call Titles — Callers set a topic or title for the call (e.g., "Did you see that play?!", "Pre-game predictions"). The title is displayed to the recipient before they answer.
• Floating Emoji Reactions — During a call, both participants can send real-time emoji reactions that animate across the screen. This creates a visual, interactive layer on top of voice.
• Call Context — Calls are tied to the community context (your team), so the UI is themed to match.

Architecture

Caller                          Recipient
  │                                │
  │  1. Set call title             │
  │  2. Initiate call ─────────>   │  3. Incoming call overlay
  │                                │     (shows title + caller)
  │                                │  4. Accept / Decline
  │  <──── Voice connected ─────>  │
  │                                │
  │  5. Send emoji ──────────────> │  6. Emoji animates on screen
  │  <───────────── Send emoji ──  │
  │                                │
  │  7. End call                   │

The voice infrastructure uses Twilio under the hood for reliable, low-latency audio. The interactive layer (titles, emoji reactions, call state) is managed by Squad's own real-time system.

Integration

Squad Line is included in the SDK by default. No additional setup is required beyond the standard SDK initialization.

Permissions

Squad Line requires microphone access. See Requirements for the required permission declarations.

Push Notifications

Incoming call notifications are delivered via push. When a call comes in while the app is backgrounded, the SDK displays a system notification. See Push Notifications for setup.

Call Lifecycle Events

The following analytics events are tracked automatically:

Event	When
call_started	Call is connected
call_ended	Call ends (includes duration)
reaction_sent	Emoji reaction sent during call

These events are emitted through the SDK's analytics pipeline — forward them to your own analytics stack (Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc.) via the custom analytics adapter. See Analytics for details.