What's new in 8x8 Work for Mobile 11.11 release?

In this release, we introduced the following features:

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.

    Group MMS messagging - The Text Message allows you to connect instantly through mobile devices with colleagues or external contacts, whether individually or in a group

  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.

    Group MMS messaging - Start a group with internal and external numbers from either the US or Canada

  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.

    Group MMS messaging - The MMS Group room is automatically created for communication with internal and external numbers

  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.

To find detailed information about group messaging, 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.
    • Chat messages - Summarize conversation based on the latest 24 hours, the last 3 days, or any unread messages

    • 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.
    • Chat messages - Summarize the conversation starting with a specific message

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 and Mobile-only settings 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.

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.

For details on features introduced prior to this release, see our list of previous releases.

Previous releases

The following features and enhancements were introduced in previous versions of 8x8 Work for Mobile (formerly known as the Virtual Office mobile app).