Now you can talk face to face with your team in the office as Group messaging app Slack is rolling out the video calling feature on its platform. This move from Slack comes nine months after it launched the voice calls on the app in March and promised that users will get the video calling feature soon. As of now free users will only be able to make direct calls. In order to use the video calling feature, you will have to click on the phone button as used to make a voice call and then tap on the camera button to turn on the video. The feature will also let the users reply with emojis. If you agree with what the person in front of you said, you can click on the ‘thumbs up’ sign and the icon will float on his/her interface and make a small sound for a while.
The new video calling feature will be rolled out in the next few days. Video call will be available for the new Windows and Mac apps and also on Chrome browser. Smartphone app users can also join in on the calls but they will be able to only hear the voice and respond as the video will not be shown on their interface. The slack app also works with third party apps like Google Hangouts and Zoom. After the announcement of the video and voice calling features, it is clear that Slack is troubling Google’s Hangout and Microsoft’s Skype, a lot. Office teams have been heavily reliant on Skype for the video calling feature, but that supremacy in the virtual workplace might end now.
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Slack in its blog said, “Video Calls are rolling out over the next few days and will be available on the latest versions of our Slack for Mac and Slack for Windows desktop apps, as well as Google Chrome. On the move? Users on the mobile apps can still join any ongoing video call, but will be limited to sharing and receiving audio.” Interestingly, the app has designed some custom props which can be used during calls, only if you have a printer and a pen. You can print the custom props and tape it to the pen, and it can act as an ‘instant emoji reaction’.
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Meanwhile, Microsoft, with an aim to take on Slack, had announced Microsoft teams at an event in New York on November 2. The Slack competitor was announced after months of speculations. In March 2016, Microsoft wanted to acquire Slack but the deal expected to be of $8 billion, got cancelled.
