diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b24de64..6a077d0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
     "i18next-http-backend": "^1.4.4",
     "livekit-client": "^1.9.7",
     "lodash": "^4.17.21",
-    "matrix-js-sdk": "github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#3cfad3cdeb7b19b8e0e7015784efd803cb9542f1",
+    "matrix-js-sdk": "github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#af10b0c44b4a427c8d2224bfd6feb03a12cfd27e",
     "matrix-widget-api": "^1.3.1",
     "mermaid": "^8.13.8",
     "normalize.css": "^8.0.1",
diff --git a/src/livekit/useLiveKit.ts b/src/livekit/useLiveKit.ts
index 4bd68a6..b888b05 100644
--- a/src/livekit/useLiveKit.ts
+++ b/src/livekit/useLiveKit.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
-import { LocalAudioTrack, LocalVideoTrack, Room } from "livekit-client";
-import React from "react";
+import {
+  ConnectionState,
+  LocalAudioTrack,
+  LocalVideoTrack,
+  Room,
+} from "livekit-client";
+import React, { useEffect } from "react";
 import {
   useMediaDeviceSelect,
   usePreviewDevice,
@@ -8,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 import { MediaDevicesState, MediaDevices } from "../settings/mediaDevices";
 import { LocalMediaInfo, MediaInfo } from "../room/VideoPreview";
 import { roomOptions } from "./options";
+import { useDefaultDevices } from "../settings/useSetting";
 
 type LiveKitState = {
   // The state of the media devices (changing the devices will also change them in the room).
@@ -19,6 +25,10 @@ type LiveKitState = {
   room: Room;
 };
 
+function emptyToUndef(str) {
+  return str === "" ? undefined : str;
+}
+
 // Returns the React state for the LiveKit's Room class.
 // The actual return type should be `LiveKitState`, but since this is a React hook, the initialisation is
 // delayed (done after the rendering, not during the rendering), because of that this function may return `undefined`.
@@ -32,21 +42,35 @@ export function useLiveKit(): LiveKitState | undefined {
   // Create a React state to store the available devices and the selected device for each kind.
   const mediaDevices = useMediaDevicesState(room);
 
-  // Create local video track.
+  const [settingsDefaultDevices] = useDefaultDevices();
+
   const [videoEnabled, setVideoEnabled] = React.useState<boolean>(true);
   const selectedVideoId = mediaDevices.state.get("videoinput")?.selectedId;
+
+  const [audioEnabled, setAudioEnabled] = React.useState<boolean>(true);
+  const selectedAudioId = mediaDevices.state.get("audioinput")?.selectedId;
+
+  // trigger permission popup first,
+  useEffect(() => {
+    navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
+      video: { deviceId: selectedVideoId ?? settingsDefaultDevices.videoinput },
+      audio: { deviceId: selectedAudioId ?? settingsDefaultDevices.audioinput },
+    });
+    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
+  }, []);
+
+  // then start the preview device (no permsssion should be triggered agian)
+  // Create local video track.
   const video = usePreviewDevice(
     videoEnabled,
-    selectedVideoId ?? "",
+    selectedVideoId ?? settingsDefaultDevices.videoinput,
     "videoinput"
   );
 
   // Create local audio track.
-  const [audioEnabled, setAudioEnabled] = React.useState<boolean>(true);
-  const selectedAudioId = mediaDevices.state.get("audioinput")?.selectedId;
   const audio = usePreviewDevice(
     audioEnabled,
-    selectedAudioId ?? "",
+    selectedAudioId ?? settingsDefaultDevices.audioinput,
     "audioinput"
   );
 
@@ -71,7 +95,6 @@ export function useLiveKit(): LiveKitState | undefined {
         },
       };
     };
-
     const state: LiveKitState = {
       mediaDevices: mediaDevices,
       localMedia: {
@@ -102,19 +125,24 @@ export function useLiveKit(): LiveKitState | undefined {
   return state;
 }
 
+// if a room is passed this only affects the device selection inside a call. Without room it changes what we see in the lobby
 function useMediaDevicesState(room: Room): MediaDevicesState {
+  let connectedRoom: Room;
+  if (room.state !== ConnectionState.Disconnected) {
+    connectedRoom = room;
+  }
   const {
     devices: videoDevices,
     activeDeviceId: activeVideoDevice,
     setActiveMediaDevice: setActiveVideoDevice,
-  } = useMediaDeviceSelect({ kind: "videoinput", room });
+  } = useMediaDeviceSelect({ kind: "videoinput", room: connectedRoom });
   const {
     devices: audioDevices,
     activeDeviceId: activeAudioDevice,
     setActiveMediaDevice: setActiveAudioDevice,
   } = useMediaDeviceSelect({
     kind: "audioinput",
-    room,
+    room: connectedRoom,
   });
   const {
     devices: audioOutputDevices,
@@ -122,7 +150,7 @@ function useMediaDevicesState(room: Room): MediaDevicesState {
     setActiveMediaDevice: setActiveAudioOutputDevice,
   } = useMediaDeviceSelect({
     kind: "audiooutput",
-    room,
+    room: connectedRoom,
   });
 
   const selectActiveDevice = React.useCallback(
@@ -139,7 +167,7 @@ function useMediaDevicesState(room: Room): MediaDevicesState {
           break;
       }
     },
-    [setActiveAudioDevice, setActiveVideoDevice, setActiveAudioOutputDevice]
+    [setActiveVideoDevice, setActiveAudioOutputDevice, setActiveAudioDevice]
   );
 
   const [mediaDevicesState, setMediaDevicesState] =
@@ -151,19 +179,35 @@ function useMediaDevicesState(room: Room): MediaDevicesState {
       return state;
     });
 
+  const [settingsDefaultDevices, setDefaultDevices] = useDefaultDevices();
+
   React.useEffect(() => {
     const state = new Map<MediaDeviceKind, MediaDevices>();
     state.set("videoinput", {
       available: videoDevices,
-      selectedId: activeVideoDevice,
+      selectedId:
+        emptyToUndef(activeVideoDevice) ??
+        emptyToUndef(settingsDefaultDevices.videoinput) ??
+        videoDevices[0]?.deviceId,
     });
     state.set("audioinput", {
       available: audioDevices,
-      selectedId: activeAudioDevice,
+      selectedId:
+        emptyToUndef(activeAudioDevice) ??
+        emptyToUndef(settingsDefaultDevices.audioinput) ??
+        audioDevices[0]?.deviceId,
     });
     state.set("audiooutput", {
       available: audioOutputDevices,
-      selectedId: activeAudioOutputDevice,
+      selectedId:
+        emptyToUndef(activeAudioOutputDevice) ??
+        emptyToUndef(settingsDefaultDevices.audiooutput) ??
+        audioOutputDevices[0]?.deviceId,
+    });
+    setDefaultDevices({
+      audioinput: state.get("audioinput").selectedId,
+      videoinput: state.get("videoinput").selectedId,
+      audiooutput: state.get("audiooutput").selectedId,
     });
     setMediaDevicesState({
       state,
@@ -177,6 +221,10 @@ function useMediaDevicesState(room: Room): MediaDevicesState {
     audioOutputDevices,
     activeAudioOutputDevice,
     selectActiveDevice,
+    setDefaultDevices,
+    settingsDefaultDevices.audioinput,
+    settingsDefaultDevices.videoinput,
+    settingsDefaultDevices.audiooutput,
   ]);
 
   return mediaDevicesState;
diff --git a/src/matrix-utils.ts b/src/matrix-utils.ts
index e4f8388..9a7645d 100644
--- a/src/matrix-utils.ts
+++ b/src/matrix-utils.ts
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ export async function initClient(
     localTimeoutMs: 5000,
     useE2eForGroupCall: e2eEnabled,
     fallbackICEServerAllowed: fallbackICEServerAllowed,
+    useLivekitForGroupCalls: true,
   });
 
   try {
@@ -335,7 +336,8 @@ export async function createRoom(
     result.room_id,
     ptt ? GroupCallType.Voice : GroupCallType.Video,
     ptt,
-    GroupCallIntent.Room
+    GroupCallIntent.Room,
+    true
   );
 
   return [fullAliasFromRoomName(name, client), result.room_id];
diff --git a/src/room/InCallView.tsx b/src/room/InCallView.tsx
index 2ec28e6..d1ca2d3 100644
--- a/src/room/InCallView.tsx
+++ b/src/room/InCallView.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 import { ResizeObserver } from "@juggle/resize-observer";
 import {
-  useLiveKitRoom,
   useLocalParticipant,
   useParticipants,
   useToken,
@@ -78,6 +77,7 @@ import { InviteModal } from "./InviteModal";
 import { useRageshakeRequestModal } from "../settings/submit-rageshake";
 import { RageshakeRequestModal } from "./RageshakeRequestModal";
 import { VideoTile } from "../video-grid/VideoTile";
+import { useRoom } from "./useRoom";
 
 const canScreenshare = "getDisplayMedia" in (navigator.mediaDevices ?? {});
 // There is currently a bug in Safari our our code with cloning and sending MediaStreams
@@ -85,6 +85,16 @@ const canScreenshare = "getDisplayMedia" in (navigator.mediaDevices ?? {});
 // For now we can disable screensharing in Safari.
 const isSafari = /^((?!chrome|android).)*safari/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
 
+const onConnectedCallback = (): void => {
+  console.log("connected to LiveKit room");
+};
+const onDisconnectedCallback = (): void => {
+  console.log("disconnected from LiveKit room");
+};
+const onErrorCallback = (err: Error): void => {
+  console.error("error connecting to LiveKit room", err);
+};
+
 interface LocalUserChoices {
   videoMuted: boolean;
   audioMuted: boolean;
@@ -149,22 +159,23 @@ export function InCallView({
     options
   );
 
+  // TODO: move the room creation into the useRoom hook and out of the useLiveKit hook.
+  // This would than allow to not have those 4 lines
+  livekitRoom.options.audioCaptureDefaults.deviceId =
+    mediaDevices.state.get("audioinput").selectedId;
+  livekitRoom.options.videoCaptureDefaults.deviceId =
+    mediaDevices.state.get("videoinput").selectedId;
   // Uses a hook to connect to the LiveKit room (on unmount the room will be left) and publish local media tracks (default).
-  useLiveKitRoom({
+  useRoom({
     token,
     serverUrl: Config.get().livekit.server_url,
     room: livekitRoom,
     audio: !userChoices.audioMuted,
     video: !userChoices.videoMuted,
-    onConnected: () => {
-      console.log("connected to LiveKit room");
-    },
-    onDisconnected: () => {
-      console.log("disconnected from LiveKit room");
-    },
-    onError: (err) => {
-      console.error("error connecting to LiveKit room", err);
-    },
+    simulateParticipants: 10,
+    onConnected: onConnectedCallback,
+    onDisconnected: onDisconnectedCallback,
+    onError: onErrorCallback,
   });
 
   const screenSharingTracks = useTracks(
@@ -453,6 +464,10 @@ function useParticipantTiles(
       })
     );
 
+    const someoneIsPresenting = sfuParticipants.some((p) => {
+      !p.isLocal && p.isScreenShareEnabled;
+    });
+
     // Iterate over SFU participants (those who actually are present from the SFU perspective) and create tiles for them.
     const tiles: TileDescriptor<ItemData>[] = sfuParticipants.flatMap(
       (sfuParticipant) => {
@@ -461,7 +476,7 @@ function useParticipantTiles(
 
         const userMediaTile = {
           id,
-          focused: false,
+          focused: !someoneIsPresenting && sfuParticipant.isSpeaking,
           local: sfuParticipant.isLocal,
           data: {
             member,
diff --git a/src/room/useRoom.ts b/src/room/useRoom.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63bb153
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/room/useRoom.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+import * as React from "react";
+import {
+  ConnectionState,
+  MediaDeviceFailure,
+  Room,
+  RoomEvent,
+} from "livekit-client";
+import { LiveKitRoomProps } from "@livekit/components-react/src/components/LiveKitRoom";
+import { logger } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/logger";
+
+const defaultRoomProps: Partial<LiveKitRoomProps> = {
+  connect: true,
+  audio: false,
+  video: false,
+};
+
+export function useRoom(props: LiveKitRoomProps) {
+  const {
+    token,
+    serverUrl,
+    options,
+    room: passedRoom,
+    connectOptions,
+    connect,
+    audio,
+    video,
+    screen,
+    onConnected,
+    onDisconnected,
+    onError,
+    onMediaDeviceFailure,
+  } = { ...defaultRoomProps, ...props };
+  if (options && passedRoom) {
+    logger.warn(
+      "when using a manually created room, the options object will be ignored. set the desired options directly when creating the room instead."
+    );
+  }
+
+  const [room, setRoom] = React.useState<Room | undefined>();
+
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    setRoom(passedRoom ?? new Room(options));
+  }, [options, passedRoom]);
+
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    if (!room) return;
+    const onSignalConnected = () => {
+      const localP = room.localParticipant;
+      try {
+        logger.debug("trying to publish local tracks");
+        localP.setMicrophoneEnabled(
+          !!audio,
+          typeof audio !== "boolean" ? audio : undefined
+        );
+        localP.setCameraEnabled(
+          !!video,
+          typeof video !== "boolean" ? video : undefined
+        );
+        localP.setScreenShareEnabled(
+          !!screen,
+          typeof screen !== "boolean" ? screen : undefined
+        );
+      } catch (e) {
+        logger.warn(e);
+        onError?.(e as Error);
+      }
+    };
+
+    const onMediaDeviceError = (e: Error) => {
+      const mediaDeviceFailure = MediaDeviceFailure.getFailure(e);
+      onMediaDeviceFailure?.(mediaDeviceFailure);
+    };
+    room.on(RoomEvent.SignalConnected, onSignalConnected);
+    room.on(RoomEvent.MediaDevicesError, onMediaDeviceError);
+
+    return () => {
+      room.off(RoomEvent.SignalConnected, onSignalConnected);
+      room.off(RoomEvent.MediaDevicesError, onMediaDeviceError);
+    };
+  }, [room, audio, video, screen, onError, onMediaDeviceFailure]);
+
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    if (!room) return;
+    if (!token) {
+      logger.debug("no token yet");
+      return;
+    }
+    if (!serverUrl) {
+      logger.warn("no livekit url provided");
+      onError?.(Error("no livekit url provided"));
+      return;
+    }
+    if (connect) {
+      logger.debug("connecting");
+      room.connect(serverUrl, token, connectOptions).catch((e) => {
+        logger.warn(e);
+        onError?.(e as Error);
+      });
+    } else {
+      logger.debug("disconnecting because connect is false");
+      room.disconnect();
+    }
+  }, [connect, token, connectOptions, room, onError, serverUrl]);
+
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    if (!room) return;
+    const connectionStateChangeListener = (state: ConnectionState) => {
+      switch (state) {
+        case ConnectionState.Disconnected:
+          if (onDisconnected) onDisconnected();
+          break;
+        case ConnectionState.Connected:
+          if (onConnected) onConnected();
+          break;
+
+        default:
+          break;
+      }
+    };
+    room.on(RoomEvent.ConnectionStateChanged, connectionStateChangeListener);
+    return () => {
+      room.off(RoomEvent.ConnectionStateChanged, connectionStateChangeListener);
+    };
+  }, [token, onConnected, onDisconnected, room]);
+
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    if (!room) return;
+    return () => {
+      logger.info("disconnecting on onmount");
+      room.disconnect();
+    };
+  }, [room]);
+
+  return { room };
+}
diff --git a/src/settings/useSetting.ts b/src/settings/useSetting.ts
index 8d0c5a0..b862c21 100644
--- a/src/settings/useSetting.ts
+++ b/src/settings/useSetting.ts
@@ -100,3 +100,10 @@ export const useOptInAnalytics = (): DisableableSetting<boolean | null> => {
 
 export const useDeveloperSettingsTab = () =>
   useSetting("developer-settings-tab", false);
+
+export const useDefaultDevices = () =>
+  useSetting("defaultDevices", {
+    audioinput: "",
+    videoinput: "",
+    audiooutput: "",
+  });
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 94322cd..244dd11 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1860,10 +1860,10 @@
     "@react-hook/latest" "^1.0.3"
     clsx "^1.2.1"
 
-"@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js@^0.1.0-alpha.9":
-  version "0.1.0-alpha.9"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js/-/matrix-sdk-crypto-js-0.1.0-alpha.9.tgz#00bc266781502641a661858a5a521dd4d95275fc"
-  integrity sha512-g5cjpFwA9h0CbEGoAqNVI2QcyDsbI8FHoLo9+OXWHIezEKITsSv78mc5ilIwN+2YpmVlH0KNeQWTHw4vi0BMnw==
+"@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js@^0.1.0-alpha.10":
+  version "0.1.0-alpha.10"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js/-/matrix-sdk-crypto-js-0.1.0-alpha.10.tgz#b6a6395cffd3197ae2e0a88f4eeae8b315571fd2"
+  integrity sha512-8V2NKuzGOFzEZeZVgF2is7gmuopdRbMZ064tzPDE0vN34iX6s3O8A4oxIT7SA3qtymwm3t1yEvTnT+0gfbmh4g==
 
 "@matrix-org/olm@https://gitlab.matrix.org/api/v4/projects/27/packages/npm/@matrix-org/olm/-/@matrix-org/olm-3.2.14.tgz":
   version "3.2.14"
@@ -10699,12 +10699,12 @@ matrix-events-sdk@0.0.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/matrix-events-sdk/-/matrix-events-sdk-0.0.1.tgz#c8c38911e2cb29023b0bbac8d6f32e0de2c957dd"
   integrity sha512-1QEOsXO+bhyCroIe2/A5OwaxHvBm7EsSQ46DEDn8RBIfQwN5HWBpFvyWWR4QY0KHPPnnJdI99wgRiAl7Ad5qaA==
 
-"matrix-js-sdk@github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#3cfad3cdeb7b19b8e0e7015784efd803cb9542f1":
-  version "26.0.0"
-  resolved "https://codeload.github.com/matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk/tar.gz/3cfad3cdeb7b19b8e0e7015784efd803cb9542f1"
+"matrix-js-sdk@github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#af10b0c44b4a427c8d2224bfd6feb03a12cfd27e":
+  version "26.0.1"
+  resolved "https://codeload.github.com/matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk/tar.gz/af10b0c44b4a427c8d2224bfd6feb03a12cfd27e"
   dependencies:
     "@babel/runtime" "^7.12.5"
-    "@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js" "^0.1.0-alpha.9"
+    "@matrix-org/matrix-sdk-crypto-js" "^0.1.0-alpha.10"
     another-json "^0.2.0"
     bs58 "^5.0.0"
     content-type "^1.0.4"