diff --git a/src/room/GroupCallLoader.tsx b/src/room/GroupCallLoader.tsx
index 5f71f203..cca495a4 100644
--- a/src/room/GroupCallLoader.tsx
+++ b/src/room/GroupCallLoader.tsx
@@ -14,10 +14,13 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
-import { ReactNode } from "react";
+import { ReactNode, useCallback } from "react";
 import { MatrixClient } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/client";
 import { useTranslation } from "react-i18next";
 import { MatrixRTCSession } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrixrtc/MatrixRTCSession";
+import { MatrixError } from "matrix-js-sdk";
+import { useHistory } from "react-router-dom";
+import { Link } from "@vector-im/compound-web";
 
 import { useLoadGroupCall } from "./useLoadGroupCall";
 import { ErrorView, FullScreenView } from "../FullScreenView";
@@ -38,6 +41,9 @@ export function GroupCallLoader({
   const { t } = useTranslation();
   const groupCallState = useLoadGroupCall(client, roomIdOrAlias, viaServers);
 
+  const history = useHistory();
+  const onHomeClick = useCallback(() => history.push("/"), [history]);
+
   switch (groupCallState.kind) {
     case "loading":
       return (
@@ -48,6 +54,24 @@ export function GroupCallLoader({
     case "loaded":
       return <>{children(groupCallState.rtcSession)}</>;
     case "failed":
-      return <ErrorView error={groupCallState.error} />;
+      if ((groupCallState.error as MatrixError).errcode === "M_NOT_FOUND") {
+        return (
+          <FullScreenView>
+            <h1>{t("Call not found")}</h1>
+            <p>
+              {t(
+                "Element Calls are now end-to-end encrypted and need to be explicitly created. This helps make sure everyone's using the same encryption key."
+              )}
+            </p>
+            {/* XXX: A 'create it for me' button would be the obvious UX here. Two screens already have
+            dupes of this flow, let's make a common component and put it here. */}
+            <Link href="/" onClick={onHomeClick}>
+              {t("Home")}
+            </Link>
+          </FullScreenView>
+        );
+      } else {
+        return <ErrorView error={groupCallState.error} />;
+      }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/room/useLoadGroupCall.ts b/src/room/useLoadGroupCall.ts
index e6f79ced..c47a678b 100644
--- a/src/room/useLoadGroupCall.ts
+++ b/src/room/useLoadGroupCall.ts
@@ -20,14 +20,10 @@ import { ClientEvent, MatrixClient } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/client";
 import { SyncState } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/sync";
 import { useTranslation } from "react-i18next";
 import { MatrixRTCSession } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrixrtc/MatrixRTCSession";
-import { randomString } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/randomstring";
 
 import type { Room } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/models/room";
 import type { GroupCall } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/webrtc/groupCall";
-import { setLocalStorageItem } from "../useLocalStorage";
-import { isLocalRoomId, createRoom, roomNameFromRoomId } from "../matrix-utils";
 import { useEnableE2EE } from "../settings/useSetting";
-import { getRoomSharedKeyLocalStorageKey } from "../e2ee/sharedKeyManagement";
 
 export type GroupCallLoaded = {
   kind: "loaded";
@@ -65,58 +61,21 @@ export const useLoadGroupCall = (
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const fetchOrCreateRoom = async (): Promise<Room> => {
-      try {
-        // We lowercase the localpart when we create the room, so we must lowercase
-        // it here too (we just do the whole alias). We can't do the same to room IDs
-        // though.
-        const sanitisedIdOrAlias =
-          roomIdOrAlias[0] === "#"
-            ? roomIdOrAlias.toLowerCase()
-            : roomIdOrAlias;
+      // We lowercase the localpart when we create the room, so we must lowercase
+      // it here too (we just do the whole alias). We can't do the same to room IDs
+      // though.
+      const sanitisedIdOrAlias =
+        roomIdOrAlias[0] === "#" ? roomIdOrAlias.toLowerCase() : roomIdOrAlias;
 
-        const room = await client.joinRoom(sanitisedIdOrAlias, {
-          viaServers,
-        });
-        logger.info(
-          `Joined ${sanitisedIdOrAlias}, waiting room to be ready for group calls`
-        );
-        await client.waitUntilRoomReadyForGroupCalls(room.roomId);
-        logger.info(`${sanitisedIdOrAlias}, is ready for group calls`);
-        return room;
-      } catch (error) {
-        if (
-          isLocalRoomId(roomIdOrAlias, client) &&
-          // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
-          // @ts-ignore
-          (error.errcode === "M_NOT_FOUND" ||
-            // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
-            // @ts-ignore
-            (error.message &&
-              // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
-              // @ts-ignore
-              error.message.indexOf("Failed to fetch alias") !== -1))
-        ) {
-          // The room doesn't exist, but we can create it
-          const [, roomId] = await createRoom(
-            client,
-            roomNameFromRoomId(roomIdOrAlias),
-            e2eeEnabled ?? false
-          );
-
-          if (e2eeEnabled) {
-            setLocalStorageItem(
-              getRoomSharedKeyLocalStorageKey(roomId),
-              randomString(32)
-            );
-          }
-
-          // likewise, wait for the room
-          await client.waitUntilRoomReadyForGroupCalls(roomId);
-          return client.getRoom(roomId)!;
-        } else {
-          throw error;
-        }
-      }
+      const room = await client.joinRoom(sanitisedIdOrAlias, {
+        viaServers,
+      });
+      logger.info(
+        `Joined ${sanitisedIdOrAlias}, waiting room to be ready for group calls`
+      );
+      await client.waitUntilRoomReadyForGroupCalls(room.roomId);
+      logger.info(`${sanitisedIdOrAlias}, is ready for group calls`);
+      return room;
     };
 
     const fetchOrCreateGroupCall = async (): Promise<MatrixRTCSession> => {