The global pandemic has increased the demand for video calling apps to several folds within a few months. Since the entire world is getting accustomed to the new normal, from kindergarten kids to business professionals are relying on videoconferencing applications. Among the many video conferencing apps, it was Zoom that started owning the market at the beginning and was extremely successful. But, it was soon followed by zoom bombing and then sharing the market with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.
With that being said, just days after Zoom announced that it will lift the 40 minutes meeting timing for Thanksgiving Day, Microsoft Teams comes with a brand new option of free all-day video and voice calling. The latter is rolling out a bunch of new options to give a hard competition to Zoom and attract Zoom users to its platform. The company confirmed the news through a blog post.
What is new in Microsoft Team?
The new all-day video and voice calling option will not only be hard on Zoom but Google Meet as well. The free 24 hrs calling will allow 300 participants to connect be it a video call or a voice call. Apart from the free all-day calling the platform is also expanding its ability to create a group chat maximum of 250 participants. The user will see up to 49 members simultaneously during virtual conversations. The company hasn’t specified if there is an end date to this free 24-hours calling. This new feature will immensely help existing users and attract new users as well. With Zoom’s compromised security then deciding to enable end-to-end encryption for only paid users followed by rolling it out for everyone has signaled instability of the platform. So, maybe this new feature of MS Teams will make it own the market.
Apart from expanding the chat capability, Microsoft is also adding support to upload and share photos and videos from your computer. Users can share these directly in any group chat or video chat. Both the Teams desktop and the web apps are including more options letting professionals add their account to chat with friends and family.
Does everyone need a Microsoft account?
The company has mentioned that like every other video conferencing platform, it is not mandatory to have a Microsoft account to attend a meeting. The user can join a Microsoft Teams meeting without opening an account or installing the Teams app only by clicking on the link that has been sent by the host. Users can simply attend the meeting from the web browser. Moreover, the platform is trying to connect as many people as possible by getting seamless syncing of chats between the phone and the computer. As mentioned earlier, the platform will also show 49 others in the meeting in a gallery view similar to the Zoom app. This is done by using the Together Mode feature in MS Teams.
New features for Teams mobile app
Apart from overall updating the Microsoft Teams platform, the mobile users can communicate with their contacts that do not have Teams on their smartphone. The chosen contact by the user will receive an SMS and the receiver can respond to it via simple text messages. Moreover, the recipient will receive a link to download Microsoft Teams on their phones. The SMS support will be available to the Teams app in preview only for US and Canadian users. An additional feature of adding group events from chat to the device calendar will also be available. Users can also get task and location updates in the activity feed along with adding photos to the personal Safe. The new location feature is made to let your family and loved ones know about your whereabouts so that you are safe. They will receive alerts during your departure and arrival time as well. Microsoft Teams is trying to make the platform as personalized and secure as possible for the users. The company also says that they are expecting the feedbacks are the user input matters a lot.
Last month, the company announced that it surpassed the mark of 115 million daily active users and they want to make it a communication solution for everyone.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more