How I built Meetsy — a full-featured private messaging app with Laravel 11

What I built Meetsy is a privacy-first messaging web app — no ads, no tracking. Built solo as a side project, it grew into a full-featured messenger. 🔗 getmeetsy.app Features Real-time private & group messaging (AJAX polling) Voice & video calls (WebRTC) Voice messages, file & image attachments Message reactions, replies, edit & delete Web Push Notifications (VAPID) Installable PWA (iOS & Android) Typing indicators & read receipts Friend requests, block & report users Full admin panel with moderation tools Tech Stack Backend: Laravel 11 + MySQL Frontend: Alpine.js + Tailwind CSS + Vite Auth: Laravel Breeze + Sanctum Storage: Cloudflare R2 Hosting: Hostinger VPS Push: Web Push API + minishlink/web-push Real-time without WebSockets Instead of running a WebSocket server, I used AJAX polling every 3 seconds. Simple, reliable, no extra infrastructure needed. What's next Would love feedback from the dev community!