Audio and video telephony for Direct Messages

In our blog post about the future of Stackfield, we already gave an outlook on the upcoming developments - and at the same time received a lot of feedback about the mentioned features. The audio and video telephony was one of the most requested features and we are very pleased to announce the availability of this feature.

In the first phase, the audio and video telephony is availabke for the Direct Messages and thus for the direct communication between two persons. Once this first test period is successfully completed, the audio and video telephony will also be available within the rooms and for groups.

How do I use the audio and video telephony?

The use of audio and video telephony is quite simple: in the direct messages, at the top next to the name of the other party, a telephony button is available and with a click on it a call can be started.

When the call starts, a window opens in which the connection attempt is displayed. Already at this point, the video transmission can be started when a camera is available or connected to the device. If the other party answers the call, the call changes to a smaller window and the editing of content on Stackfield is possible again.

If the called person is not available or does not answer the call, the connection attempt is automatically interrupted.

By default, the active call window is in the upper-right corner, but it can be dragged and dropped freely in the Stackfield window if relevant content is hidden. Likewise, as with the connection attempt, the video function can be activated at any time or the microphone can also be muted.

Once the video function is activated, the call window changes again to a slightly larger window, in which both (the own as well as the called person's) video is shown if the other party has also activated the video function.

The call can be easily ended by clicking on the red "hang up" button.

What about the security of the telephony?

By using the audio and video telephony in the Direct Messages, the communication happens peer-to-peer, i.e. from device to device, instead of sending this data through our servers. At the same time, the calls are end-to-end encrypted to protect the transfer.

How does the development of this feature continue?

The audio and video telephony within the Direct Messages represents the beginning of this feature. As already described, the expansion to rooms will follow as well, and in addition, there will be additional functions, such as sharing your own screen.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the audio and video telephony, our support is gladly available! We hope you enjoy testing this feature and hope that we have been able to simplify our daily work!