What's new in 8x8 Work for Mobile 12.0 release?

Ability to create group MMS messaging

Note: This feature is only available for usage-based billing customers.

8x8 Work now enables you to communicate simultaneously via mobile with your colleagues or external contacts, either with one or a group of people. This includes 1:1 SMS messages, as well as MMS group messages with up to 10 internal and external numbers.

Note: MMS group can only include domestic external numbers from the US or Canada.

To create a MMS group:

1. On the navigation menu, tap Messages .
2. Tap at the bottom of the messages list.

3. In the menu that displays, tap Text Messages .

   Note: Using the Text Messages option, you can start a 1:1 SMS conversation or add more members to create an MMS group conversation.

   

4. In the Text Messages window, add the internal and external numbers with whom you wish to chat. To add new numbers, tap Add phone number and enter the desired numbers. Select the members from the your contacts list and tap Select to include each of them in your group.

   Note: To create an MMS group, you must enter at least one external number.

   

5. Click Ok to create a group MMS room containing all the specified numbers.

   Note: An MMS group room can only include domestic external numbers from the US or Canada.

   

6. Whenever you want to add or remove members from the group, a new Group MMS room will be automatically created with the updated participants.

Note: This feature is enabled by default for all customers on usage-based billing. Admins can disable it via the 8x8 Admin Console app by toggling the Disable Group MMS option in the Profile Policies section. For details about enabling the Group MMS messaging in 8x8 Admin Console, tap here.

To find detailed information about group messaging on mobile, tap here.

Note: To access Group MMS messaging:
- Users must have the latest versions of the 8x8 Work apps installed (version 11.11 on mobile and 8.20 on desktop) and must have enabled the SMS feature through their licences.
- This feature is enabled by default for all customers on usage-based billing. Admins can disable it via the 8x8 Admin Console app by toggling the Disable Group MMS option in the Profile Policies section.

Limitations

Users without usage-based billing can now only communicate via 1:1 SMS messages with domestic numbers in the US and Canada.

Ability to summarize chat messages

We are introducing conversation summaries for the last 24 hours, the past 3 days, unread messages, or messages starting from any specific message. If you have participated in extensive discussions with colleagues or teams and wish to obtain a summary, you can easily generate one.

Note: Currently, the summary will be translated into English if the discussion occurs in a supported language: English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Spanish, and Thai.

To summarize conversations:

1. On the navigation menu, tap Messages .

2. Depending on your needs, you can:

   • Summarize the conversation from the past 24 hours, the last 3 days, or any unread messages:

     • Select the chat you wish to view from the Conversations list.
     • In the upper-right corner, tap More > Summarize to generate a summary of the selected conversation.
     • Select the desired time frame: the Last 24 hours, the Last 3 days, or the Unread messages.
     • You can view the generated summary in the Chat summarization panel.

   

   • Summarize the conversation starting with a specific message:

     • Go to the desired message and long press or swap
     • In the More options panel that appears, tap Summarize from here to generate to choose the starting point for the summarization.
     • You can view the generated summary in the Chat summarization panel.

   

To learn more about chat messaging, tap here.

Enhanced experience for retail users

Retail administrators can now disable certain features that prevent retail users from changing their profile picture, setting a Do Not Disturb (DND) status, managing their business hour schedules, managing their presence, or logging out of the 8x8 Work for Mobile app, if necessary. Administrators can manage these options through the 8x8 Admin Console under the General, Mobile-only settings, Notifications, and Status, sections on the Work Apps Settings page.

Moreover, retail administrators can now enable users to log in automatically (using certificates), following the auto-login flow.

To find more about configuring 8x8 Work apps settings on 8x8 Admin Console, tap here.

Other enhancements

• Improved accessibility for screen readers in landing page and login areas.
• New rules to comply with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for Admin Mobile users are now active (through the 8x8 Admin Console). For example, administrators can view users in the call queues, ring groups, and auto-attendant lists and assign users to these, even if they cannot access user details.
• Text message updates: When an admin blocks a specific number, users can no longer see the option to block that number in the UI.
• New restrictions for 1:1 SMS messages - Users in the US and Canada can no longer send international 1:1 SMS messages. They may communicate only through 1:1 SMS messages with domestic numbers within the US and Canada.
• UI Updates - When the class of service (COS) is configured to prevent users from changing the caller ID, the Caller ID field is disabled on the UI.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release of 8x8 Work for Mobile, we are introducing the following enhancements:

• Ability to pause and resume queue calls for 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage customers
• Ability to transfer calls to other Contact Center queues for 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage customers
• Enhanced 8x8 Mobile Admin Dashboard tile: Phone Numbers

Ability to pause and resume Contact Center queues for 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage customers

Customer engagement specialists can pause or resume their Contact Center (CC) queues in 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage whenever necessary. When your queues are paused, customers will not receive any queue calls and cannot take any action on the queues.

To pause/resume CC queues for engagement specialists - XF Worspace and Engage:

1. Log in to 8x8 Work for Mobile.

2. Swipe up or tap My Queues at the bottom of the main screen.

3. On the My Queues screen, click Pause queues , and select a reason: Work offline or Break.

4. Optional: Click near the selected reason for pause and choose another one if necessary.

5. Your queues are currently disabled, and you cannot act on them. You will only receive calls once you resume them. A timer in the screen's upper-right corner shows the paused time until the queues are resumed.

   Note: When the My Queues section is collapsed, the counter still displays on the right side of the My Queues section.
   

6. Click Resume queues to enable your queues and start receiving calls again.

   When you resume the queues, the counter will no longer be displayed. Your queues are enabled, and you can receive calls again or search for, enable, or disable queues.

To learn about managing phone calls in 8x8 Work for Mobile, see 8x8 Work for Mobile - About phone calls.

To learn more about 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage , see 8x8 XF Workspace - Manage queues on mobile and 8x8 Engage - Manage queues on mobile.

Ability to transfer calls to other Contact Center queues for 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage customers

As an engagement specialist (8x8 XF Workspace or 8x8 engage user), you can now transfer a call to the CC queues, both informal and formal, in 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage.

The Contact Center transfer process is only activated for engagement specialists and is triggered when the call originates from a specific CC queue (identified by its queue name). During the transfer process, the user has various options, including transferring the call directly, initiating a warm transfer, or choosing from a list of other available queues to transfer the call to.

To transfer an Informal Contact Center call to a queue for XF Workspace and Engage customers:

1. While on a call, notify the other party that you will transfer them to a colleague.
2. Tap Transfer and select Transfer to queue to bring up a list of queues without placing the other party on hold.
3. Select a favorite or suggested queue from the list, or enter the queue name you want to transfer to and confirm.
4. The queue transfer has been processed, and you have been disconnected from the call. The contact you selected receives a call from the other party.

To learn about managing phone calls in 8x8 Work for Mobile, see 8x8 Work for Mobile - About phone calls.

To learn more about 8x8 XF Workspace and 8x8 Engage , see 8x8 XF Workspace - Manage queues on mobile and 8x8 Engage - Manage queues on mobile.

Enhanced 8x8 Mobile Admin Dashboard tile: Phone Numbers

The 8x8 Mobile Admin Dashboard displays the Phone numbers tile, which shows now the usable phone numbers out of the total.

To learn more about Mobile Admin Dashboard, see Mobile Admin Dashboard.

In this release of 8x8 Work for Mobile, we are introducing minor improvements to the user experience and some minor bug fixes. We also introduced the following enhancement:

Ability for supervisors to filter in the Mobile Supervisor app

Supervisors with access to 8x8 Supervisor Workspace and the Mobile Supervisor app will now have the ability to filter by agents, agent groups, queues and media type. This new functionality will allow supervisors to view and display relevant metrics on their mobile device. Supervisors will also be able to manage their agents and queues more efficiently, while ensuring adequate coverage for their 8x8 Contact Center. To learn more, see mobile supervisor filter option and about supervisor workspace.

Note: The filtering functionality in the Mobile Supervisor app is currently in Beta and only available to supervisors.

In this release of 8x8 Work for Mobile, we are introducing the following enhancement:

Disable resolution of contacts on ring group calls

When you import your contacts from 3rd parties such as Google, Microsoft, or Outlook in your 8x8 Work for Desktop/Web app and you receive a call in the desktop/web/mobile app, the Caller ID is recognized. By default, Ring Groups displays information according to the settings made by the admin in the Ring Group Caller ID section in 8x8 Admin Console. If you do not want to see your personal or company contacts resolved when you receive a call on 8x8 Work for Mobile you must toggle off the Resolve Ring Group calls against available Contacts on your account in the desktop/web app.

To check the settings, or to enable/disable the toggle to synchronize Ring Group calls with your available Contacts:

Note: Before enabling the toggle you must have imported contacts from 3rd parties such as Google, Microsoft, or Outlook.

1. Log in to 8x8 Work for Desktop/Web using your credentials.
2. On the navigation menu, click Settings > Contacts.
3. Toggle on/off Resolve Ring Group calls against available Contacts.
   
   
4. Restart 8x8 Work for Mobile to update the settings.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we introduced the following we are introducing the following features and improvements:

• Introducing 8x8 Mobile Admin app
• Enhanced new sounds

• Enhanced new look and feel

  • Enhanced Messages look and feel
  • Enhanced Phone look and feel
• Ability to customize room avatar

• Enhanced group messaging capabilities

Introducing 8x8 Mobile Admin app

8x8 Mobile Admin is a new solution designed for 8x8 Work admins to manage basic admin activities using the 8x8 Work for Mobile app. This new capability offers quick resolutions via the mobile app as well as easy access to a restricted set of top level daily admin tasks (quick updates or changes on demand) especially when considering a remote environment.

Often admins need to check on system status or quickly change user/device level settings or operate minor configuration changes on auto attendants, call queues or ring groups. Through the 8x8 Mobile Admin app, admins can act on these actions easily and quickly, without having to log in to the web app.

As an 8x8 Work app admin, perform the following basic admin functions using a new admin dashboard in 8x8 Work for Mobile:

• Access Admin Dashboard - a new admin dashboard shows when users log into 8x8 Work for Mobile as an admin.

• Perform basic actions for usage and quality monitoring:

  • Track number of sites, users, licenses, and phone numbers in a snapshot.
  • Manage basic configuration options - for managing configuration on existing Auto Attendant, Call Queues, and Ring Groups.
• Manage user accounts - for deactivating, reactivating and deleting user accounts.
• Manage status notifications - for sending and receiving push notifications about platform services status updates (outages announcements or incidents), directly via the mobile app.
• Search for users - If you are logged into 8x8 Work for Mobile as an admin, you have the ability to search for a user directly from the Mobile Admin Dashboard.

Enhanced new sounds

In this release, we are introducing a new set of ringtone and notification sounds to make your experience more pleasant.

You now can adjust your sound preferences, by selecting one of the newest available varied and colorful modern sounds - Peaceful, Playful, and Plucky - or you can keep a sound from the previous versions, as you prefer.

For a smoother transition:

• If existing users upgrade the app version without reinstalling the app - a new What's new call to action entry redirects them to the Ringtone Incoming Calls settings section. They can choose to keep the sound selection or to change them according to their preferences.
• If existing users reinstall the app - the new set of modern sounds displays in the Ringtone Incoming Calls settings section.
• If new users install the app - the new set of modern sounds displays in the Ringtone Incoming Calls settings section.

Note: You now can control the audio preferences only from theProfile > Settings > Incoming calls > Ringtone settings section.

Let’s say you make the upgrade to the new 11.0 app version and you want to try one of the modern sounds:

To make any changes about notification:

1. Go to Profile > Settings screen.
2. Under the Notifications category, tap Incoming calls > Sound.
3. In the Sound screen, select one of the available sounds as you prefer.

Note: To choose the sound best suits you, you can listen to the sound first when selecting the option.

To learn more about making changes about the app sounds, tap here.

Enhanced new look and feel

Starting with this release, a new modern feel and look theme is now available, including new colors, icons, badges.

Enhanced Messages look and feel

The enhanced look and feel of the Messages menu offers the following flexibilities:flexibility to initiate a call , send a message or send an email to that contact by tapping the contact avatar/picture.

Enhanced Phone look and feel

The enhanced look and feel of the Phone menu offers the following flexibility:

• Tap the contact picture/avatar to initiate a call , send a message , send an email to that contact or copy the phone number .
• In the Queues directory, with a left-swipe gesture you can logged in to an available queues, or to logged out .

Ability to customize a chat room avatar

You now have the ability to set a chat room avatar from the available colored icons or you can attach a custom picture. You can customize an avatar room either while creating a new chat room or while updating an existing room.

To learn more about creating and customizing chat rooms, tap here.

Enhanced group messaging capabilities

8x8 Work enables you to send and receive messages via mobile or desktop app with your colleagues or with external contacts, either with one or a group of people.

Beginning with this release, you have the ability to create group messaging with coworkers (internal 8x8 users) and clients (external participants) as well. You can create group messaging with up to 10 members, internal and external numbers/contacts, including the group creator.

When you want to send or receive messages, you now can choose one of the following options:

• Create Room - public and private rooms.
• 1:1 Message - only for one internal messaging at a time, without SMS.
• Text Message - 1:1 SMS and MMS group messaging.

To communicate with several people, both colleagues and clients, having internal and external numbers as well, at the same time, now you can use the Text Message messaging option in the Messages tab. You can send an 1:1 SMS or start a MMS group messaging with up to 10 members, including internal and external numbers, to communicate with them and to keep confidential information secure within a small group.

To find detailed information about group messaging, tap here.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

In this release, we have introduced in 8x8 Work for Mobile a new Sales Workspace customer experience:

• Introducing 8x8 Sales Workspace

  We are introducing 8x8 Sales Workspace, a solution within 8x8 Work designed for sales professionals working with prospects and opportunities. It offers an optimized sales workflow focusing on high-value long-term deals. It integrates with Salesforce® and multiple calendars (Office 365, Google, iCloud, etc.), and optimizes external and internal communication around sales opportunities by offering the capabilities of calling, messaging, meeting, and tracking interaction history, all in one place. It allows quick access to a roster of 100 most recently updated opportunities. It allows adding private notes to contacts and syncing next steps and interactions data back to the Salesforce. It also aims to be complementary in the Microsoft Teams ecosystem.

  

  For details about Sales Workspace, please refer to Sales Workspace Quick User Guide.

• • How to activate Sales Workspace in 8x8 Work for Mobile

    1. In 8x8 Work for Mobile, tap the profile image icon in the header to open your Profile screen.
    2. In your profile, tap Settings > Sales Workspace.

    3. Enable Sales Workspace toggle on to activate the Sales Workspace functionality in the 8x8 Work for Mobile app.

       Important! You have to activate Sales Workspace manually in each app of the 8x8 Work (mobile, desktop or web). For example, if you have activated the Sales Workspace functionality in the 8x8 Work for Desktop app, Sales Workspace is not automatically activated in 8x8 Work for Mobile

    4. Tap Sign in to log into Salesforce to activate the integration.
    5. By default, the Auto-sync interactions to CRM is enabled and automatically syncs any new interactions (calls, voicemails, meetings) with the opportunity contacts. You can turn off/on the process of pushing interaction in the Opportunity Activity stream inside Salesforce, anytime.

    6. The navigation menu now shows the Sales Workspace icon. Tap it to access the opportunities roster imported from Salesforce.

       

    For details about Sales Workspace, please refer to Sales Workspace Quick User Guide.

• • How to access Sales Workspace from 8x8 Work for Mobile

    After the Sales Workspace was activated, the navigation menu shows the Sales Workspace icon. Tap it to access the opportunities roster imported from Salesforce.

    

    For details about Sales Workspace, please refer to Sales Workspace Quick User Guide.

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes:

In this release, we introduced minor improvements about the user experience and some minor bug fixes.

• Ability to search for conversation by phone number: Let's say you are looking for a conversation with an unsaved contact, you can now search for a SMS conversation by its number

  To quickly search for an SMS conversation by number:

  1. While in Messages, Calls or Contacts tab, in the Search bar of the current page, enter the number you are looking for.
  2. On the Contacts & Rooms page, under Rooms, all the numbers containing the sequence of numbers you entered are displayed.

  3. Tap the number you are interested in to see the SMSs for this contact.

     Notes: All the numbers listed under Rooms display SMS detail under the number.

     

• Support for landscape-mode call park and call queue screens on Android tablets: If you access 8x8 Work for Mobile using an Android tablet, you now can take advantage of the display in the classic landscape mode of Parked calls and Queues, with calls list on the left side and call details on the right side of the screen:

  

  

• Ability to mute notifications from the app tray - If you want to mute the incoming notifications for 8x8 Work for Mobile, you now can access the Mute notifications page much quicker, without opening the app, simply by touching and holding the 8x8 Work for Mobile . icon.

To quickly access the Mute notifications options:

1. On the Home Screen, touch and hold the 8x8 Work for Mobile . to open the quick actions menu.

2. Tap Mute notifications, tap Share your status and then choose the duration for which you want to temporarily mute incoming notifications.

Your options are: 30 minutes, 1, 2 or 4 hours, or until tomorrow.

Notes:
- If you are temporarily blocking your notifications, your contacts are not notified that their delivered messages might not reach you.
- When you are logged in the 8x8 Work for Mobile, you can access the Mute notifications page from your Profile screen. This option is currently available. For more details, tap here.

• Ability to choose predefined message for status - When you want to set a custom message to give other users more information about your presence status, you now can choose one of the predefined suggestions for status messages, such as:
  • Commuting
  • Out sick
  • Working remotely
  • Out of lunch
  • On vacation
  • Traveling

To set a custom status message:

1. In the header page, tap the profile image to open your Profile screen.
2. In your profile, a predefined status message, and tap to display it and save it. Now, the message status will be visible to other users.

Notes:
- You can edit the preset status message by appending additional text to it or by revising the message as desired.
- You can delete a status message by taping in the status message.

• Ability to enable notifications about parked calls- 8x8 Work for Mobile allows you to toggle the parked calls indicator on/off.

When you have calls which are parked for your extension, you now can enable the info bar that notify you that there are parked calls on the monitored extensions.

To enable notifications about parked calls:

1. In the header page, tap the profile image icon to open your Profile screen.
2. In your profile, tap Settings > Advanced, and select to toggle Parked calls indicator on/off.

By default, the Parked calls indicator toggle is Off, but you can enable it anytime

After you enable the Parked calls indicator, when you or someone else on your phone system parks a call, a notification shows on your screen. You can tap Retrieve on the notification to go to the new Parked calls tab, from where you can retrieve a call parked on a public or dedicated extension!

Ability to view release notes after a version update - As an Android user updating to version 10.18 of 8x8 Work for Mobile, in the in-app What’s New screen, you now see a quick list of features updated in that release! For more detailed information, tap Read more at the bottom of the page.

• Enhanced call experience – Your call parking experience is now more targeted while you park call, and much quicker when you pick a parked call up! When you park a call, you now see a selection screen from which you can choose to park the call on a public or dedicated call park extension.

  

  In addition, when you or someone else on your phone system parks a call, a notification shows on your screen. Tap Retrieve on the notification to go to the new Parked calls tab, from where you can retrieve a call parked on a public or dedicated extension!

  

• Improved support for landscape mode on Android tablets - As an Android tablet user, the following 8x8 Work for Mobile screens now have landscape mode support:

  • Under the Call/Phone tab:

    • All and Missed (with or without an entry selected)
    • Faxes (with or without an entry selected)
    • Recordings (with or without an entry selected)
    • Voicemails (with or without an entry selected)

  • Contacts > Favorites (with or without an entry selected)

  • Search (with or without an entry selected)

  • Login

  • Profile

  • Additional Messages and Meetings screens

• Additional change: End-of-life updates - 8x8 Work for Mobile on Android is now no longer supported on:

  • Mobile devices running Android OS 7.x or older

  • Chromebooks

    Please, use the 8x8 Work for Web application instead of Chrombook that no longer exists.
    If you are an existing 8x8 Work for Mobile user on an older Android mobile device or on a Chromebook, you continue to be able to use your version of the app. However, you can no longer receive version updates, and your device no longer detects the application on the Google Play Store.

• Enhanced emergency call setting: If you are a new user, or upgrading 8x8 Work for Mobile as of version 10.16, emergency calls made from the app are set to use your cellular network by default. To make changes to your emergency call setting, go to Profile > Settings > Advanced > Emergency calls via cellular.

  

• Ability to run network tests: If you have an important call or meeting coming up and want to ensure that you have a good network connection, you now have the ability to run network tests from 8x8 Work for Mobile! To run a network test, go to Profile > Settings > Other and tap Network connectivity.

  

• Ability to play recordings through Bluetooth devices: As an 8x8 Work for Mobile user on Android, you can now listen to 8x8 Work call recordings through a Bluetooth device! Connect your Android mobile device to a Bluetooth audio device, then open a recording in Calls > Recordings to begin playing it.Starting with version 10.16 of 8x8 Work for Mobile, you now see a toggle that enables you to play the recording through your Device or Bluetooth speaker!

  

• Ability to see whether calls or voicemails were directed to a work group: If you are part of a call queue or ring group, you can now more quickly see if a call log or voicemail is related to one of your work groups! Call logs and voicemails related to a Call queue or Ring group now show up labeled with the corresponding icon and the name of the work group.

  

  In addition, when you receive a voicemail on behalf of a ring group, the voicemail notification now indicates the name of the ring group.

  

• Ability to reply to a message by swiping: As an Android user, you can now start replying to a message in just one swipe! Rather than holding down on a message and selecting from a pop-up menu to reply to it, you now also have the ability to start replying by swiping right on the message.

  

• Improved experience receiving calls while in a meeting on mobile: Let’s say you receive a call while you’re in a meeting on Android; previously, the call was automatically declined from all devices on which you were logged in to 8x8. Now, the call is only automatically declined on the device you are using for the meeting, enabling you to choose whether to take the call using a different device.

  If Mel is in a meeting in 8x8 Work for Mobile on Android and receives a call from Sam, for example, Mel can now continue the meeting on mobile and accept the call using 8x8 Work for Desktop.

• Enhanced Merge control behavior during warm transfers: Let’s say Mel receives a call from Robin, but it turns out that Robin’s question can be best answered by Sam; at this point, Mel starts a warm transfer of the call to Sam. Now, when Mel starts a warm transfer, the Merge call control remains visible, enabling Mel to remain part of a three-way conference if Sam wants to include Mel in the rest of the conversation with Robin!

  

• Enhanced call notifications on Android 12 and up: As a user of an Android device running Android 12 or newer, when you are outside of 8x8 Work for Mobile, you now see active 8x8 calls in your device’s header bar, enabling you to quickly return to your 8x8 call controls if you leave the app. In addition, the Answer and Decline buttons of your incoming call notifications are now color-coded.
  
  

  

  If you are running Android 11 or older, your incoming and active call notifications continue to appear as they used to.

• Support for landscape-mode call screens on Android tablets: If you access 8x8 Work for Mobile using an Android tablet, take advantage of landscape support for your calling experience! Your incoming and active call screens are now supported in landscape mode, and call controls such as Transfer and Dial pad now open in a panel to the side of your active call screen.

  Landscape support is available for:

  • Incoming calls
    
  • Active calls
    
  • Calls with an open dial pad
    
  • And more in-call screens!

• Renamed calling widget to “8x8 Direct dial”: Your 8x8 calling widget is now identifiable regardless of which Android device you use; the name of your 8x8 calling widget is now 8x8 Direct dial across all Android devices in order to make it easy to find!

  

• Enhanced chat room creation process: Let’s say that an administrative assistant needs to create a private chat room that they are not part of; previously, if the assistant tried to remove themselves from a private chat room while creating the room, they triggered an error. To prevent this, if you are creating a private chat room for someone else, you can remove yourself from the room only after the room is created.

  

  To remove yourself from a room after you have finished creating it, open the room, then tap the name of the room to open the room details. From the list of room members, tap x next to your name to remove yourself from the room.

  

• Support for single-character contact and chat room search: 8x8 Work for Mobile now starts searching with the very first character you type in the search bar; if you have a colleague whose first or last name is one character long (such as Hideki Mori, written as 森 秀樹 in Japanese), you can now find them just as easily as you can a colleague with a longer name! Similarly, you can now search for a chat room with a single-character name, or a name you only remember one character of.

• Ability to flip active meetings to 8x8 Work for Mobile in one tap: Let’s say you joined a meeting on your computer via 8x8 Work for Desktop but need to step away from your desk for a while. 8x8 Work for Mobile now detects whether you are in a meeting on another device, and lets you flip the meeting to your mobile app with a single tap! Once you tap the control to flip your meeting, the meeting on your computer stops and picks up on mobile where you left off!

  

• Ability to copy a link in a message without surrounding text: Let’s say your colleague sent you a helpful link or a phone number while chatting with you, but the item you want to copy is surrounded by text; now, if you press down on a blue underlined URL within a message, you can copy just that URL without the rest of the message! If you try to copy message text other than the link, you continue to see a contextual menu as you used to in previous versions.

  

• New direct calling widget: Let’s say you’re on your Android device and decide to call a colleague; without needing to open 8x8 Work for Mobile, you now have the ability to set up a calling widget on your device for any of your 8x8 contacts! Simply go to your device’s usual widget library and look for our 8x8 calling widget.

  Note: Depending on your Android device, your device widget library is accessed in different ways.

  When you bring the widget into your home screen, you are asked to select a contact; the widget then finalizes and shows up with the name and profile picture of the selected contact. Depending on your Android device and version, the first time you tap one of the 8x8 calling widgets you create, your device might ask you which calling app to use, or will default to a calling app previously selected as the device default. After this, you can launch a call with just one tap!

  Note: To select a different calling app for your widgets after your initial selection, open your device Settings, go to the calling app you selected, and disable it as the default selection for the 8x8 calling widget. The next time you tap one of your 8x8 calling widgets, select the calling app you want.

  

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Added ability to warm-transfer a call: Let’s say you often take or place calls that require you to transfer the other party to another colleague; you now have a way to warm-transfer your calls! Simply tap Transfer > Warm transfer from your call menu, and select someone from your Contacts list! The other party is placed on hold automatically. Once you notify your colleague of the incoming call, tap Handover from your call menu; you leave the call, and the other party is taken off hold and transferred seamlessly.

    

  • Ability to share voicemails is back: Let’s say a colleague left you a voicemail with important information to pass along to someone else; if permitted by your phone system administrator, you now have the ability to share selected voicemails!

    From the More Options menu next to an open voicemail, tap Forward to share with a contact in 8x8 Work, or tap Share to share with a contact in another app on your device!

    

• Default Contacts sub-list is now Favorites: When you open your Contacts list, the default sub-list that opens is now your list of Favorites, enabling you to more quickly reach out to the colleagues you talk to the most!

  

• Renamed Invisible presence status option to Appear Offline: To better reflect the function of the presence status formerly labeled Invisible, this status has been renamed to Appear offline in your presence status selection menu! As before, this presence status continues to show up as Offline to colleagues viewing your availability.

  To set your presence status, tap the profile image icon in your header to access your profile information. In the page that opens, tap your current status to open a list, and select the status you want to display.

  

• Improved accessibility for presence status icons: The Available and Offline status icons in 8x8 Work for Mobile (formerly and ) now feature symbols in addition to their previous color differentiation, preventing the issue of the Available, Busy, and Offline statuses from looking identical to a colorblind user. Now, you can tell all presence statuses apart at a glance!

  

• Ability to bubble chat conversations: As an Android device user on Android 11 or higher, you now have the ability to bubble 8x8 chat conversations as you can with other messaging apps! To bubble 8x8 messages, you must meet the following conditions:

  • Your Android device runs on version 11 or higher.
  • After upgrading 8x8 Work for Mobile to version 10.8, you must visit your Messages list at least once.
  • Conversation bubbling currently applies to the top five chat conversations in your Messages list as of the last time you visited the list. If you visit the list again and different conversations have taken the top five spaces, the conversations you can bubble change as well.

  Once these conditions are met, you can either bubble 8x8 messages from all of your top five conversations, or select specific conversations to bubble.

• Improved user experience for call forwarding answer delay: Let’s say that your phone system administrator set a custom call forwarding answer delay; in previous versions, 8x8 Work for Mobile did not reflect the custom time. If your organization is an X Series customer and your phone system administrator has changed the duration after which an incoming call is forwarded to voicemail (found under Settings > Account Settings > Call Forwarding), 8x8 Work for Mobile now accurately reflects the admin-selected time rather than the default of 15 seconds!

  Note: 8x8 Work for Mobile reflects the most recently-set call forwarding answer delay time out of:
  -Your admin-set time
  -Your personally-set time (open 8x8 Work for Desktop and go to Settings > Account Settings > Call forwarding rules)

  

• Ability to see job titles of contacts imported from your device: If some of the contacts imported from your device feature a job title, that job title is now visible when you look at the contact in 8x8 Work for Mobile!

  

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Enhanced behavior for carrier minutes on devices without SIM cards: If you access 8x8 Work for Mobile on a device without a SIM card, your settings for carrier minutes do not show up under Profile > Settings > Data and Network Options. Similarly, if you remove the SIM card on a device on which you previously enabled carrier minutes, carrier minutes are disabled until you replace the SIM card and re-enter your carrier minutes settings.

    

  • Ability to hear dial tones on the dial pad: As an Android user, you now hear dial pad tones when entering numbers in your dial pad on 8x8 Work for Mobile. If you want to disable dial pad tones, you can do so under Profile > Settings > Advanced > Dial pad tones.

    

• More detailed contact listings: When browsing your list of contacts, you now see a second line of information below the name of a contact: you see the contact’s custom presence status or, if no custom status is set, the contact’s job title and/or company (if available for that contact).

  

• Additional change: minimum Android OS version is now 7: As an Android user, Android OS 7 is now the minimum OS version you can use with 8x8 Work for Mobile.

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Improved carrier minutes settings: Enjoy an enhanced experience when setting up carrier minutes in 8x8 Work for Mobile! The updated carrier minutes settings are now labeled more clearly to show which settings to use if you want 8x8 Work to prefer carrier minutes, or simply fall back on carrier minutes instead. Among these reorganized settings, you now have the ability to make 8x8 Work suggest automatically when your call’s audio quality is poor, and give you the option to switch to cellular minutes.

    In addition, you can enter or reset your phone number more quickly, and 8x8 Work hides all unnecessary settings if your phone number isn’t entered.

    

  • Ability to view call quality on the other party’s end of the call: During an active call, in addition to being able to view call quality information about your end of the call, you can now view quality information about the other party’s end of the call as well! At a glance, you can see whether the other party’s call quality is good (green), average (yellow), or poor (red), letting you know which end of the call any call quality issues can be fixed from. The party on the call suffering from poor call quality can then switch to a stronger data channel: for example, if their cellular data signal is poor, they can improve their call quality by switching to nearby Wi-Fi or by enabling carrier minutes.

    To see more details, simply tap the Call quality icon on the other party’s portrait. Your own call quality remains accessible in the upper-right corner of the call screen. If the call quality is showing as average or poor, the call metrics shown are more granular to help you identify the source of the problem, including:

    • Quality score (inbound and outbound)
    • Bitrate (in kilobits per second, inbound and outbound)
    • Packet loss rate (inbound and outbound)
    • Round-trip time (in milliseconds)
    • Average jitter (in milliseconds, inbound and outbound)
    • Codec used for the call

    

  • Enhanced selection screen for forwarding calls to another number: When you enter a number to forward your calls to, 8x8 Work for Mobile now automatically detects your locale based on your device’s SIM card, or detects your country based on the phone number you enter!

    

• Enhancements to messages: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience.

  • Ability to go to a replied message: Let’s say Sam asked Mel a question in their team chat some time ago, and Mel replied to the question only recently. To quickly see the context of the question in the chat, either of them can tap the name of the writer of the original message in the reply! In addition, if a message was previously edited, the edited label and timestamp shows up next to the quoted message.

    

  • Ability to listen to 8x8 messages via Android Auto: If you are an Android Auto user, you can now receive incoming SMS and IM messages with 8x8 Work for Mobile and have the system read them out to you!

    Once you have the Android Auto app on your device and have paired it with your Android Auto-capable car, you can listen to SMS and IM messages on 8x8 Work for Mobile as you would with other compatible messaging apps.

• Ability to see your current call quality: If your call quality is poor, it always helps to know where the problem is. During an active call, 8x8 Work for Mobile now shows you the call quality on your end of the call! At a glance, you can see whether your call quality is good (green), average (yellow), or poor (red).

  To see more details, simply tap the call quality icon; if your call quality is showing as average or poor, the call metrics shown are more granular to help you identify the source of the problem, including:

  • Quality score (inbound and outbound)
  • Bitrate (in kilobits per second, inbound and outbound)
  • Packet loss rate (inbound and outbound)
  • Round-trip time (in milliseconds)
  • Average jitter (in milliseconds, inbound and outbound)
  • Codec used for the call

  Note: The call quality indicator shows you problems that are detected on your end of the call; issues such as a poor microphone on the other party’s end, for example, do not affect your measured call quality.

  

• Enhancements to messages: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience.

  • Ability to reply to a selected message: Let’s say someone asked a question some time ago in Robin’s group chat, and Robin now has the answer to it; Robin can now reply to the older message in the same chat without needing to copy and paste the older message! Similarly, if the message is edited by the writer, Robin’s reply reflects any changes made to the original message.

    To reply to a message, scroll back to the message you want to reply to, and hold down on it to bring up a menu. From the menu, select Reply; this brings the selected message into a new message where you can write your answer. Once you are finished typing, send the selected message accompanied with your answer to it.

    

  • Improved chat room creation process: When creating a chat room in 8x8 Work for Mobile, the control to make the room public or private is now more visible for an improved experience.

    

  • Added smart replies for SMS: Do you frequently message external contacts in 8x8 Work via SMS? As an Android user on 8x8 Work for Mobile, you can now use in-chat smart replies for SMS the same way you can for IM!

    

• Ability to set an external Caller ID for out-of-company calls: Let’s say you need to use a different Caller ID than your default when making calls to external numbers; if your organization is an X Series customer, you can now switch between your available Caller IDs while on mobile! If multiple Caller IDs (and/or the ability to hide your Caller ID) are enabled for you by your phone system administrator, you can now select or hide your Caller ID from 8x8 Work for Mobile.

  To switch between caller IDs, open your profile and tap Caller ID to select one of the available Caller IDs, or to hide the caller ID and make calls anonymously. This Caller ID is visible only to external contacts; your colleagues continue to see your calls with your name.

  

  In addition, from the same menu, you can choose whether your Caller ID shows up when you open your dial pad, enabling you to ensure that you have a suitable Caller ID selected for an upcoming call.

  

• Ability to share links to public rooms when writing a message: You now have a quicker way to share a public chat room with your colleagues! Let’s say Mel has created a new public room to share the highlights of a product release, and wants to let the Sales team know about the new room; while typing a message, Mel can @mention a public chat room the same way a colleague can be @mentioned. Members of the Sales team room can then tap the shared link to open and follow Mel’s public room.

  Note: You cannot share private chat rooms.

  To link to a public chat room when writing a message, simply tap @ and start typing the name of the room you want to share!

  

• Ability to search for keywords across all chats: Let’s say Robin is trying to find a past conversation about an important project, but doesn’t remember which chat the discussion took place in; Robin can now search for keywords across all chat rooms or all individual chats, making it easier to find important discussions!

  

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Ability to respond to incoming calls with quick-reply messages: If you’re too busy to answer an incoming business call as an Android user, you now have the ability to decline an incoming 8x8 call with a quick-reply message just like for an incoming device call!

    On your lock screen, simply tap Reply on an incoming call, and select from the quick-reply options.

    

    In addition, from 8x8 Work for Mobile, you have the ability to customize the quick-reply options that show up on an incoming call! Open your profile and go to Settings > Quick Replies, where you can manage your quick replies for incoming calls; you can create quick replies of your own, or reset to the default options if you change your mind.

    

  • Access to call recordings via 8x8 Work for Mobile: You now have the ability to access your 8x8 Work call recordings on the go! Instead of accessing call recordings only via 8x8 Work for Desktop, you can now go to Calls > Recordings in the mobile app as well!

    

  • Enhanced call forwarding setup for user extensions: If your organization is an X Series customer and you have set up 8x8 Work for Mobile to forward calls to another user in your organization, you now have the ability to select the destination user by name rather than only by extension number.

    When you open your user profile page and go to Settings > Account Settings > Call Forwarding, and for one of the forwarding conditions select Company directory, you can search for a colleague by typing their name rather than only being able to search via extension number.

    

  • Ability to open advanced call forwarding rules via link to 8x8 Admin Console: If your organization is an X Series customer and you have created custom call forwarding rules for yourself, you now have the ability to open your advanced call forwarding settings in 8x8 Admin Console from 8x8 Work for Mobile!

    From your user profile page, simply go to Settings > Account Settings > Call Forwarding, and tap the link that leads to your advanced call forwarding rules in your 8x8 account settings. Log in with your usual 8x8 credentials to open up your advanced settings in your mobile browser.

    

• Enhancements to messages: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience.

  • Ability to share a link to a room in another chat or room: Let’s say Mel has created a new public chat room concerning updates to the AcmeJets mobile app, and wants to let people in the corresponding room for the desktop app know about the new room; Mel can now share any public chat room as a link when messaging colleagues one-on-one or in a different room!

    Note: You cannot share private chat rooms.

    While in a public chat room you want to share, open the More options menu, and select Share room. Then, choose which rooms and/or one-on-one chats you want to share the room to, and confirm. The link to the shared room, accompanied with pre-generated text, appears in the chats you shared to.

    

  • Ability to share audio files via 8x8 Work for Mobile: Let’s say you want to share an audio file with your colleagues, such as a new advertising jingle for your product or a fragment of a speech; as an Android user, you now have the ability to select an audio file on your device and share it to 8x8 Work for Mobile!

    Simply access an audio file that you can share from your device, and 8x8 Work now shows up as one of the sharing options.

    

• Updated name for your list of meetings: The label for your list of meetings (formerly Meet) now shows up as Meetings.

  

• Updated icon for your list of meetings: Your Meet list (formerly Meet ) is now marked with an updated icon that better reflects the ability to join meetings with audio and video!

  

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • [X Series and Virtual Office Editions customers] Ability to block spam callers: Do you find yourself answering repeated spam calls on your work number? No need to worry! If your organization is an X Series or Virtual Office Editions customer, you now have the ability to block spam callers from your list of call logs!

    In your list of Calls , simply hold down on a spam call, and select Block from the options that appear at the top of your screen!

    

• Enhancements to messages: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience.

  • Enhanced chat room creation process: When you create a new chat room in 8x8 Work for Mobile, enjoy an improved experience! To make your chat rooms easier to spot at a glance, you now have the ability to assign an avatar to the room you create, or to an existing room.

    

    In addition, if you are creating a private room, a room name is automatically populated based on who you invite; if Mel creates a private room with teammates Robin and Sam, for example, the auto-populated name would be Mel, Robin & Sam. To switch between creating a public or private room, tap to the right of the Public room indicator.

    

• Amazon support for Android version of 8x8 Work for Mobile: As an Amazon tablet user, you now have the ability to take advantage of 8x8 Work for Mobile on your Amazon tablet!
• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Ability to choose from more 8x8 ringtones to distinguish between business and personal calls: Let’s say you receive many calls on your device or on other apps, and need a way to distinguish incoming 8x8 Work calls from other calls; simply select one of our 8x8 ringtones to know when you have an incoming 8x8 call without needing to look at your device!

    When you go to Profile > Settings > Notifications > Incoming calls > Sound, you now have more options for ringtones unique to 8x8 Work for Mobile!

    

• Enhancements to messages: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience.

  • Ability to mute notifications for chats: Let’s say that one of the chat rooms you follow is very active, but you are not part of the discussion and would like to block notifications for the room for a while; if you want to keep a large number of notifications from cluttering your phone, you now have the ability to mute notifications for a conversation for 30 minutes, one hour, until you unmute the conversation, and more! In addition, if you are muting a chat room you are following, the ability to mute conversations also lets you block notifications without unfollowing a room.

    

    Note: At this time, the ability to mute notifications in a chat is available only on mobile.

  • Ability to share messages to another app: Let’s say you need to share important in-chat information with a colleague who can’t access 8x8 Work. If the information you need to share is spread across multiple messages, or even with some irrelevant messages in between, you can select multiple messages from a chat to share to another app!

    Press a chat message you want to share, and in the menu that pops up, select Select messages to select any additional messages you need. Tap additional messages to mark them, and tap Share at the top of your screen to bring up your device’s menu of apps that you can share text to!

    

    Note: Sharing messages does not share files attached to those messages.

  • Option to send messages by pressing the Enter key: If you use 8x8 Work on a Chromebook, you now have the ability to send messages more intuitively by pressing your keyboard’s Enter or Return key; simply go to Profile > Settings > Advanced and enable the option to Send messages on Return!

    If you leave this setting disabled, you continue to experience the app’s previous behavior; pressing your Enter or Return key while typing an 8x8 chat message adds a new line of text to the message you are typing.

    

The Virtual Office mobile app is now 8x8 Work for Mobile: Say hello to 8x8 Work for Mobile! In recognition of the increased importance of digital tools and changes to how we all work, the 8x8 products and services you work with are getting new names as part of their transformation:

• Virtual Office: 8x8 Work
• Virtual Office mobile app: 8x8 Work for Mobile
• Virtual Office desktop app: 8x8 Work for Desktop
• 8x8 Meeting Rooms: 8x8 Spaces
• And more!

• Returned detailed notification settings for chat, missed calls, and voicemails: Do you want to see notifications for some 8x8 communications, but not others? The ability to enable or disable notifications for messages, missed calls, and voicemails without needing to go to your device settings is now back! Simply access these settings in the app by tapping your profile image icon and going to Settings > Notifications.

  

• Ability to filter chats by one-on-one or room conversations: Need to quickly scan through your one-on-one chats without scrolling through your chat rooms, or vice versa? When looking at your Messages list on Android, you now have the ability to choose between viewing all chats, only one-on-one chats, or only chat rooms!

  

• Enhancements to calls: The following enhancements apply to your calling experience.

  • Reorganized settings for cellular carrier minutes: Do you switch over to calls via cellular carrier minutes in places with poor data network reception? We have reorganized your settings for carrier minutes for a more efficient experience!

    

  • Ability to log in and out of call queues on mobile: If you are a member of a call queue, you can now access your list of assigned call queues from 8x8 Work for Mobile! Under Calls , you can now access your list of assigned Queues alongside your lists of calls and voicemails! The Queues list shows up if you are assigned to one or more call queues; you are assigned to or removed from call queues by your administrator in 8x8 Admin Console.

    

    To log in to or out of a queue, simply tap the Log in or Log out option next to the queue.

    When you are logged in to one or more call queues, a call queue indicator appears on your profile icon next to your presence status.

    

  • Ability to flip a call to mobile via banner notification: Via call flip, you were previously able to flip your call to any device associated with your 8x8 Work extension by dialing *88 on the new device. As an Android user, you retain the ability to flip calls via dialing *88, but now 8x8 Work for Mobile features a quicker way to flip calls to mobile!

    Let's say you are on an 8x8 Work call on your desktop but you want to switch to mobile for freedom of movement; if you’re calling via the desktop app, the mobile app detects the call and displays an in-app banner you can use to flip the call over to mobile! Simply tap Flip in the banner, and you’re ready to go! In addition, if you’re under Phone > Calls, you can tap the Flip call option next to the current active call.

    

• Ability to undo hiding a chat conversation: As an Android user, let's say you accidentally hid the wrong chat in your Messages list; for a few seconds after you hide a chat, you now have the ability to undo your action and display the chat again.

  

• Removed need for data encryption setting: The Data Encryption setting formerly found on 8x8 Work for Mobile is now replaced by your Android device's native sandboxing and disk encryption!

  

  The setting was disabled by default; if you did not enable the option in 8x8 Work for Mobile, it disappears once you upgrade to version 9.1. If you enabled the option, you must disable it and relaunch the app to remove it.

• New notifications for unattended missed calls: You no longer need to worry about forgetting to follow up on a missed call! If you miss a call in 8x8 Work and don't reopen 8x8 Work for Mobile in the next 48 hours, you now see a reminder in your device notifications so that you have a chance to call back.

  

• Enhanced experience for joining meetings as a guest: When you join a meeting as a guest directly from the 8x8 Work for Mobile login screen, you now see references to "meeting name" instead of "meeting ID" to better reflect what you need to enter.

  

• Enhanced notifications: As an Android user, you can now enjoy a more efficient 8x8 Work notification experience on the lock screen of your device. Rather than seeing scattered notifications, you now see a combined notification for your last five 8x8 Work communications!

  In addition, you have the ability to mark communications as read by swiping them out directly from your lock screen, or tap a notification to jump to the related communication, making it easier than ever to stay on top of your work!

  

• Ability to send files from other apps via 8x8 Work: Need to share a file with your colleagues while on mobile? You now have the ability to select files in other apps on your device and send them via 8x8 Work! When sharing a file from an app your OS finds compatible with 8x8 Work, 8x8 Work now shows up as a sharing destination.

  Note: At this time, you can select multiple files to send at once, but only one 8x8 Work conversation in which to send the files.

  

• Enhanced Fax screen design: Your Fax list now has an appearance and labels and badges consistent with your lists under Calls (All/Calls, Missed, and Voicemails).

  

• Ability to view meeting transcriptions via mobile: You can now view the audio transcripts of your past meetings on the go! If real-time audio subtitles were enabled during a meeting, you now have the ability to access these transcripts from your mobile app.

  

  Real-time audio subtitles in a meeting enable you to view an on-screen transcription of what is spoken during a meeting; if you have trouble hearing what is said or have an uncooperative headset, audio subtitles enable you to participate in a meeting without missing out on important talking points!

  

• Dark Mode support: Let’s say you frequently access 8x8 Work for Mobile at night, or simply find the usual interface too bright to look at; as an Android user, you can now switch your interface to Dark Mode at any time! Your interface changes from black text on a white background to white text on black, making the app easier on your eyes.

  • On Android 10 and newer: When you enable or disable Dark Mode in your device settings, 8x8 Work changes accordingly, unless you manually choose to override from your 8x8 Work settings.
  • On Android 9 and older: In 8x8 Work, simply tap your profile image, go to Settings > Other, and enable Dark Mode.

  

• Improved voicemail device notifications: When you receive voicemails in 8x8 Work and review your notifications from your lock screen, you now see the name or phone number of the contact the voicemail is from! In addition, multiple voicemail notifications are now grouped together on your lock screen for your convenience; simply expand the combined notification to review individual voicemails.

  

• Enhanced contact details and call logs: Enjoy a more intuitive experience when reviewing the details of your contacts! When you search for a contact and tap to see their details, immediately see a contact’s job title and a description of their presence status, and start a call or chat with them more quickly.

  

  Similarly, call logs have been improved to more prominently display a contact’s title and presence, and ways that you can contact them.

• Support for Android Q: As an Android user, 8x8 Work for Mobile now supports Android Q.

• Ability to promote calls to meetings: Let's say you're on a call with a company contact and your call is getting more involved; you can bring the other party into a meeting with one or more of your colleagues who can discuss an important matter with them. When on an 8x8 Work call, you can immediately promote the call to a productive 8x8 meeting, and bring the other party into the meeting!

  Note: This enhancement applies to users of 8x8 Meet; users of older experiences retain their earlier ability to promote calls to meetings. To determine which meeting experience your organization uses, see details on 8x8 Meet.

  

  Note: In order for the other party on a call to be brought into an 8x8 meeting, they must be on the call via one of the following or newer:
  -Version 8.3 of 8x8 Work for Mobile
  -Version 6.6 of 8x8 Work for Desktop
  If the party is on the call using an older version of 8x8 Work, they join only meeting audio when you initiate a meeting, and are not taken to the meeting interface.

• Ability to sort and filter contacts by site instead of location: If your organization is an X Series or Virtual Office Editions customer, the option to sort company contacts based on location is replaced with an option to sort based on site.

  In addition, let’s say you only communicate with company contacts in your own office; you now have the ability to filter out all contacts outside of your site!

  

• Calls list renamed to "Phone": As an Android user, experience improved navigation for calling and fax; your Calls list is now known as Phone for enhanced usability!

  

• New Chromebook support: We are excited to announce support for 8x8 Work for Mobile on Chromebook; as an Android user, access 8x8 Work for Mobile from your phone or your Chromebook at any time! Handle calls, chat via IM and SMS, manage contacts, join meetings, and more!

  

  Your experience in 8x8 Work for Mobile on Chromebook is nearly identical to the experience on your mobile device, with a handful of differences. For example, on Chromebook, we have removed some settings specific to mobile devices, and added a couple of improvements for desktop-friendly usage.

  For details, see our content on differences in 8x8 Work for Mobile between Chromebook and your mobile device.

• Enhanced access to settings: Enjoy an enhanced navigation experience that enables you to access your settings from your user profile!

  

• Ability to set business hours and mute notifications from your profile: Need a way to control incoming calls and notifications at specific times of day? You can now set your business days and hours from your profile to ensure you are not disturbed by incoming calls and notifications outside of your business hours!

  In addition to setting up your regular business hours, you can choose to temporarily disable notifications for a specific period of time, such as 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, four hours, or until the following day.

  

  If you are outside of your business hours or have disabled notifications for a period of time, your profile icon in your application header and profile page shows up with an additional Snoozing indicator to remind you that you are not receiving notifications.

  

• Ability to add companies as contacts without first or last name: If you frequently contact the primary number of another organization and choose to create a contact for it with the Company field filled out, but not the fields for first or last name, the new contact and its company name properly show up in your list of contacts.

  

• New application-only ringtones: In addition to the ability to use one of your device ringtones for 8x8 Work calls when you open your profile screen and go to Settings > Sounds, you now have access to new 8x8 Work-only ringtones for 8x8 Work for Mobile!

  

• Color-coded information bars based on priority: Based on the priority level of an information bar near the top of your app, you now see the bar displayed in a color that indicates how urgent it is.

  • Red indicates high-priority information, such as a message that you have no access to an Internet connection.
    
  • Orange indicates moderate-priority information, such as a message that you are experiencing a temporary interruption in your phone service.
  • Gray indicates low-priority information, such as a message that you are connecting to your phone service.
    

• Improved visibility for Do Not Disturb: You no longer need to worry about forgetting to switch your status back if your presence status is set to Do not disturb! If you switched your status to Do not disturb from your profile, you now see an information bar near the top of 8x8 Work for Mobile to remind you of your current status; this way, once you are no longer busy, you are able to revert your status in a more timely manner.

  

• Support for silent mentions in chat: Let’s say that you are chatting in a group and a colleague asks whether anyone in the room knows the person responsible for a certain project; you may want to respond by saying "Yes, it's @Robin Shasta" with an @mention of Robin. The mention is useful not only as a way to introduce colleagues to one another, since now Robin receives a message notification, but it's also useful as a quick and accurate way to share contact information.

  In previous releases, the ability to mention contacts functioned only in public rooms; in private rooms and one-on-one conversations, you needed to type out a colleague’s name without being able to @mention them.

  In this release, we're bringing the ability to silent-mention colleagues not only in public rooms, but also in private rooms and one-on-one conversations; this enables you to share contact information without needing to generate an @mention notification, hence "silent".

  To look up a person you remember as “Robin S”, for example, type <@robin s> until you see a result in the list that you recognize as correct. If you see an additional line of text below their name in the mention selection list, such as “Will not be mentioned (not a member)”, you know that you are about to silent-mention your colleague instead of @mentioning them.

  

• Enhanced navigation experience: When you launch 8x8 Work for Mobile, the app now brings up your last-viewed screen instead of defaulting to your Messages list.

• New smart replies in chat: When you are about to respond to a message, 8x8 Work for Mobile now provides smart replies based on the text of the message you received to enhance your chat experience!

  

• New notifications when cellular data is disabled: If you have disabled cellular data in 8x8 Work for Mobile, you see a banner in the app to let you know that the setting is disabled. You can use this banner to quickly open your settings once your cellular network quality improves.

  

  In addition, if people repeatedly try to call you while you have cellular data disabled, 8x8 Work for Mobile notifies you that callers are trying to reach you.

  

• New notifications for deactivated accounts: If your 8x8 Work account is deactivated and you try to open 8x8 Work for Mobile, you see a notification that your account has been deactivated. Once you dismiss the notification, you are logged out of your account.

• Ability to search for contacts via partial names: When you use the search box, regardless of whether the name you enter is complete, you see a list of search results that narrow down as you type. In addition, if you need to get in touch with a colleague whose name you don't remember completely, you now have the ability to search for a contact by entering independent fragments of their first and last name.

  

• Refreshed dial pad interface: The dial pad in your Calls list, as well as the keypad you access from within a call, now show up with a refreshed interface.

  

• Ability for organizations to disable voicemail transcripts: If your organization has disabled voicemail transcripts, you no longer see transcripts appear for your voicemails.

• New incoming call screen: Incoming 8x8 Work calls on your lock screen and in the app now behave like incoming calls for your Android device, and your device’s system tray now indicates when you have an 8x8 call in progress.

  

• Messaging improvements: The following enhancements apply to your messaging experience in your Messages list.

  • Ability to edit your messages: If you paste the wrong content into a chat or spot a sentence-altering typo in a message you sent, you can quickly edit the message to correct it and prevent confusion in the chat. Simply press and hold on a message to bring up a menu, and select the Edit option to begin editing. As you edit and once you finish editing, the timestamp for the message changes to indicate its status as currently or previously edited.

    

    Note: You can edit IMs with company contacts, but not SMS messages with personal contacts and external numbers.

  • Ability to delete your messages: If you enter a message into a chat with the wrong contact or group of people, you can delete the message to prevent confusion or distraction in the chat. Simply press and hold on a message to bring up a menu, select the Delete option, and confirm to delete the message. Once you delete the message, the content and timestamp of the message change to indicate that its content has been deleted, and what time the message was deleted.

    

    Note: You can delete IMs with company contacts, but not SMS messages with personal contacts and external numbers.

  • Improved ability to mention contacts in a room: While chatting in a room, you have quick access to an @ key you can tap without navigating to the @ key in your primary keyboard.

    

  • Ability to create private rooms on behalf of others: If you need to create a private room on behalf of someone else, you now have the ability to remove yourself from the member list of the room during the room creation process.
    Let’s say that Sarah, an executive assistant to Sales Vice President Robin, oversees all his administrative tasks daily. She is now required to create rooms for Robin to facilitate highly confidential discussions with other executives in the company. Sarah can create private rooms in which she invites Robin and other executives, while removing herself from the rooms.
    In addition to the ability to remove yourself while creating a room, you retain the existing ability to remove yourself from a previously-created room.

    

  • Improved typing indicator in rooms: Your typing indicator tells you when someone is typing in your room, which helps room members avoid stepping on each other's toes while chatting. If multiple people are typing in a room at the same time, this release allows you to see multiple names in the typing indicator at the bottom of the room.

    

• In-chat new message notifications: If you have a chat open when you receive a new message in another chat or room, you see a notification dot appear over the Back option. The dot is colored bright orange to indicate a new message in a one-on-one chat, or pale orange to indicate a new message in a chat room. This notification disappears once you go back to your list of messages.

  

• Ability to mark chats as read: You can now easily mark a room or individual chat as read without opening it; this helps you prevent clutter in your chat history if you already know what some conversations in your message list are about. You can mark SMS messages as well, such as spam or messages mistakenly sent to your number.

  

  Note: Marking a chat as read only marks it as read to you; other people in your chats do not see the latest messages as read by you.

• Ability to mark messages as unread: Just as with email, you can mark a message within a chat as unread so you can return to it later. If you have yet to get around to an action item that came up in a chat, you now have the ability to mark the message that talks about that item as unread, enabling you to return to the item later.

  

  Note: At this time, reopening an unread chat does not jump to the specific message you marked as unread; the ability to mark the chat as unread simply functions as a way to remind you that something in the chat is on your to-do list.

• Ability to copy message text: You now have access to an improved way to copy message text in your conversations without needing to highlight text manually; just press on a message, and select Copy text from the resulting menu to copy the message text to your clipboard, allowing you to paste in any application.

  

• Silent notifications with Do Not Disturb status: When you have the Do Not Disturb status enabled, notifications for messages now show up without playing audio on your device.
• Improved notification vibrate settings: For better consistency with your device notifications, notifications coming from 8x8 Work for Mobile now automatically follow the vibrate settings on your Android device!
• Persistent settings across multiple login sessions: When you log out from 8x8 Work for Mobile, your extension settings are no longer reset to the default. The settings you configure for your ringtone, advanced settings, and data and network options now persist and are available for you once you log back in.

• Consolidated Messages list: To help you stay on top of your latest messages, your individual and team chats now show up directly under your Messages list in a combined scrolling history, eliminating the need to jump between sub-lists. See at a glance whether you were last messaged in a chat with an individual contact or in a chat room, and prioritize your responses more efficiently!
  
• Support for Latin American Spanish localization: We have added localization support for Spanish in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  For details, see our content on supported languages for 8x8 Work.

• Announcing Team Messaging: With Team Messaging, collaborate with your colleagues via chat more effectively than ever before! Create chat rooms on demand, stay up to date on your team's latest discussions, bring multiple teams together to collaborate, and much more! Your chat rooms can be found under Rooms in your Recents list.

  In our examples, let's say that Sarah's fictitious organization, AcmeJets, uses Team Messaging. Sarah's Sales team (which includes Rob, Lisa, and John) is one of many teams within AcmeJets that can collaborate using Team Messaging, and make use of its features to accomplish tasks more effectively.
  

  • Public and private chat rooms: With Team Messaging, you can create a public room that can be accessed by anyone at any time, or create a private room that is only accessible to certain colleagues. Whether you want to stay up to date with all your colleagues, or share sensitive information with a smaller group, you can do all this and more!

    Let's say that Sarah must collaborate with her global team more effectively to ensure that the team meets its goals. The team shares critical information, and holds an ongoing discussion across multiple time zones, which warrants multiple meetings. Sarah doesn't have the time to meet often, so she sets up a private room for her team, and invites all her team members to facilitate communications. Now, her team can discuss and post information in a convenient chat room.
    On the other hand, Sarah is also collaborating on a public release where she is one of many core team members tracking the progress of the release. To stay up to date, all core team members follow a public chat room created exclusively for the release.
    

  • Ability to invite colleagues to private chat rooms: As a member of a private room, you can invite colleagues relevant to the conversation to bring them into your discussions; a fully-collaborative experience allows any member of a private room to invite a new member.

    Note: For added security, an invited colleague has access to the chat history of the private room starting with the time they were invited.

    

  • Ability to mention colleagues to get their attention: If you need to alert a group member on a release deadline, ask for their input on your current discussion, or bring a new person into a public chat room, you can get their attention at any time by simply typing <@> before their name (for example, <@John Smith>). In a public room, you can @mention any of your company contacts, while in a private room, you can only @mention colleagues who are members of the room.

    John, a Sales agent in Sarah's team, needs to send his manager Sarah a brief spreadsheet on the sales progress for the customers he is negotiating with; as John's deadline approaches, Sarah can alert him via @mention to make sure he is on schedule with the document.
    

    When you are @mentioned in a chat room, you receive a special notification with an @ label to indicate that a colleague is requesting your attention in a chat room.
    

  • Notifications for messages and changes: Has your chat room been renamed, or have new colleagues been invited to your private chat room? Whenever something about a chat room changes, you are notified in your chat history for that room. In addition, you can choose to be notified of all messages in a room to stay up-to-date, or reduce interruptions when you are busy by choosing to be notified only when you are mentioned.

    Let's say that the Acmejets Sales team is hiring new agents; as new agents are hired, Sarah or another person in her team can add them to her team's private chat room. Whenever a new agent is added to the chat room, existing members of the chat room are notified that their new colleague has access to the team's discussions.
    

  • Quick access to chat room details: By opening the details page of a chat room, you can see the room type, description, and name, as well as the member list for a private room.
    

  • Ability to hide conversations from your personal chat history: If you want to clean up old business messages and SMS spam messages from your chat history, you can simply hide them on your end. When you hide a chat room or conversation, you do not delete it; other people involved in the hidden chats still see the conversations and chat rooms in their chat history.

    Note: You can hide chat rooms and chat conversations with individuals, but you cannot hide specific messages within a chat conversation or chat room.

    

• File attachment access from chats: If a colleague attaches a file or image in a chat from 8x8 Work for Desktop, you can quickly view and access these files by tapping them in the same chat from 8x8 Work for Mobile.

  Note: At this time, you cannot attach a file or image in a chat from 8x8 Work for Mobile.
  

  

• Enhanced feedback experience: When you send feedback on the product, you can now attach additional screenshots of the app from your device to better illustrate your feedback, or remove any screenshots that may present a privacy concern.
  

• Option to use Do Not Disturb instead of logging out: When you need to silence your calls, instead of logging out, you can simply enable your Do Not Disturb status; incoming calls are forwarded to voicemail, but you can still receive chat messages in cases of emergency. When you try to log out, you are now able to confirm whether you want to log out, or enable Do Not Disturb instead.

  Note: Calls are forwarded to voicemail by default; if you have changed your call forwarding settings, your calls may be forwarded to another location.