What's new in the 8x8 Work for Mobile 10.8 release?

• 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 call 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), poor (red), or disconnected (gray), 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 display for call forwarding answer delay: 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 Profile > Settings > Account Settings > Call Forwarding), 8x8 Work for Mobile now accurately reflects the admin-selected time rather than the default of 15 seconds.

  

• 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 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 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 quoted message in the reply! In addition, if a message was previously edited, the edited label and timestamp shows up next to the quoted message.

  

• Enhanced behavior of the notification bar: When you receive a notification in 8x8 Work for Mobile on iOS, you no longer need to worry about the notification pushing down the content on the page, causing you to accidentally tap the wrong item. Notification bars in the app now float over the content you have open in the app without shifting anything down.

  

• 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.

  

• Ability to add 8x8 Work widget to your home screen: Need a way to see whether you’ve missed a call in 8x8 Work directly from your device’s home screen? As an iOS user, you can now set up an 8x8 Work for Mobile widget on your device!

  In the widget screen to the left of your home screen, tap edit at the bottom of your widget screen, and then tap + at the top-right corner of your screen to bring up a search bar. In the search bar, look up <8x8 Work> to find an 8x8 Work for Mobile widget, and choose from a smaller or larger widget size. Once you set up an 8x8 Work widget, you can view your two most recent missed calls (or, if there are no missed calls, your two most recent calls overall).

  Note: This feature applies to widget functionality starting with iOS 14.

  

• 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.

    

  • Ability to search keywords across all messages: 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; where Robin previously could search for contacts, Robin can now also search for keywords across all chat rooms or all individual chats, making it easier to find important discussions!

    In the header of the app, tap the Search icon to bring up the search screen. In the search bar, enter one or more keywords that you want to search for. If you enter multiple keywords, 8x8 Work searches for messages and rooms where one or more of the keywords appear. For example, a search for <cats dogs> will bring up messages that mention either <cats> or <dogs>, or both at once.

    Note: Keyword search in 8x8 Work for Mobile does not support booleans.

    

• 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!

  

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

  • 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 click 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.

    

  • Enhanced handling of former colleagues in chat rooms: Let’s say Sam’s colleague Jan leaves the company; in chat rooms where Jan participated, Sam continues to see Jan’s name and messages, but now no longer sees Jan in the list of room members, as well as in the selection list when someone tries to @mention someone with a similar name.

    

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

  

• Additional change: end-of-life for iOS 12 and 11 support: As an iOS user, you must upgrade to iOS 13 or newer in order to run 8x8 Work for Mobile.

• 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 swipe left on a spam call, and select Block from the options that appear next to the call!

    

  • Ability to respond to incoming calls with quick-reply messages: If you’re too busy to answer an incoming business call as an iOS 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 Message on an incoming call, and select from the quick-reply options.

    

• 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 the Public room indicator.

    

  • 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 bottom 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.

  • Ability to send GIFs in chat: Let’s say you need to send an animated image over chat to a colleague; you now have the ability to attach dynamic GIFs to your chat messages the same way you would attach static images! Once the GIF is attached in a chat, the GIF thumbnail plays automatically.

    

• 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 > Ringtone, you now have more options for ringtones unique to 8x8 Work for Mobile!

    

  • 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 iOS 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!

    

• 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.

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.

  

• 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 queue and tap the Log in/Log out option that appears.

    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.

    

  • Improved ability to add and transfer calls: Let’s say you usually transfer calls to your teammates or a small number of other colleagues; add these contacts to your list of favorite contacts and transfer your calls more quickly than ever!

    When you try to add or transfer a call, you now see your list of favorite contacts and other suggested options without you needing to type their names. If you don’t want to add or transfer to one of these favorite or suggested contacts, simply start typing to bring up search results.

    If you don’t have contacts added to your list of favorites, you don’t see a list of favorites above your other options.

    

• 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? On iOS, you now have the ability to choose between viewing all chats, only one-on-one chats, or only chat rooms in your Messages list!

  

• Improved ability to remove one person from a conference: On iOS, enjoy a quicker experience when removing one participant from a three-way conference call! Now, you can remove a conference participant in just one tap, rather than two.

  

• Ability to select text in another app and send it via 8x8 Work: As an iOS user, let's say you're quoting an article to your colleagues, or sharing other useful information written in another app; you now have the ability to select text in another app and share it to 8x8 Work for Mobile without copying and pasting!

  Simply select the text you want to share, tap it, and select the Share option to show the apps on your device you can share to. In your list of apps, select 8x8 Work for Mobile.

  

• 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.

  

• Support for iOS 13: To comply with changes made in iOS 13, we have updated your 8x8 Work experience accordingly:
  • New or changed:
    • Ringtone settings are now located under Settings > Sounds and vibration patterns in your 8x8 Work settings instead of under Settings > Sounds.
    • Actions for 8x8 Work voicemail notifications are now identical to actions for native device voicemail notifications. For example, tapping the notification opens your voicemail, and long-pressing the notification brings up the options to call back or message the caller.
  • Removed:
    • Notification settings for messages and missed calls are no longer available, but will return with improvements in a future release.

    • Cellular data settings are no longer available.

      Note: The absence of cellular data settings may affect you if you are on roaming.

• Support for Dark Mode: 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 iOS 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.

  

  8x8 Work for Mobile switches to Dark Mode whenever you have Dark Mode enabled or scheduled under Settings > Display & Brightness; if you need Dark Mode at a different time of day, simply select Automatic, and select a sunset-to-sunrise or custom schedule.

  

  Note: To access Dark Mode in your device settings, you must be running iOS 13.4.1 or newer.

• New Siri integration for messaging: Need to get an urgent message to a colleague while you are driving or walking? As an iOS user, you now have the ability to message an 8x8 Work contact via Siri!

  For example, if Pat realizes while driving that Robin might not know about a meeting that will take place within the hour, Pat can activate Siri and issue a command: “Using 8x8 Work, send a message to Robin Shasta saying “check the calendar for an upcoming conference.””

  Note: If you have enabled 8x8 Work to access your device contacts, you can also send 8x8 Work messages to any contact on your device!

  Siri supports the following commands with 8x8 Work:

  • “Using 8x8 Work send a message to <contact name> saying <content of message>.”
  • “Send a message to <contact name> on 8x8 Work.”
  • “New message to <contact name> using 8x8 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: For better usability, your Fax list now displays the profile image of the fax sender.

  

• 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!

  

• New look for personal contact edit screen: As an iOS user, enjoy a more intuitive experience while creating or editing a personal contact! When you create or edit 8x8 Work personal contacts, the app interface more closely matches your experience editing personal contacts on your mobile device, allowing you to manage your contacts more efficiently.

  

• 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.

• Ability to search chat history: Need to find an important discussion in your chat history that took place long ago? As an iOS user, you now have the ability to search for words and phrases in previous messages in a room or one-on-one chat! If one or more of your keywords appear in a message, the message shows up with any matching terms highlighted.

  

• 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!

  

• Ability to jump to the first unread message in a chat: Let’s say a subject comes up in your team’s chat room that you want to mark as unread for yourself as an item to return to later; the next time you open the chat, you now have the ability to jump back to the message you marked for yourself!

  When you jump to the message you marked as unread, the message appears under a New messages indicator in your chat history.

  

• Enhanced navigation: Enjoy an enhanced navigation experience that enables you to access important functions of the app more quickly and intuitively! You can now:

  • Access the dial pad with a single tap from the navigation bar.

    

  • Open your user settings from your profile screen.

    

• 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.

  

• Support for Swipe gestures in Messages, Favorites, and Faxes screens: Need to quickly manage a large number of messages, faxes, or contacts? In addition to the existing functionality for calls and voicemails, you can now take advantage of swiping left or right to quickly manage the following:

  • Swipe left on a conversation to reveal the options to hide or mark as read.
    • Swipe right on a conversation to reveal options to manage your listed messages in bulk.
  • Swipe left on a fax to reveal the options to delete or mark as read/unread.
  • Swipe left on a favorite contact to reveal the option to remove from the favorites list.

  

  For details, see our content on:

  • Marking chats as read, marking messages in a chat as unread, or hiding chats.
  • Managing favorite contacts.
  • Marking faxes as read or unread, or deleting faxes.

• Support for placing 8x8 Work calls via Siri: If you often use Siri on your iOS device to reach out to your contacts, you can now use Siri to place calls to your personal or company contacts through 8x8 Work! For example, to place a call to your teammate Robin Shasta, simply say “Hey Siri, call Robin using 8x8 Work,” and confirm!

  

  To enable Siri for your device and 8x8 Work for Mobile, open your device Settings and go to:

  • Siri & Search to enable Siri on your device.
  • Virtual Office > Siri & Search to enable 8x8 Work for Mobile permissions for Siri.
  • Virtual Office > Contacts to enable calling device contacts via 8x8 Work in addition to 8x8 Work contacts.

  

  Need a quicker way to call a favorite 8x8 Work contact via Siri? If you use Siri with the Apple Shortcuts app on your mobile device, you can add Siri shortcuts in the Shortcuts app to quickly make 8x8 Work calls to your contacts!

  To get the Apple Shortcuts app, download the app to your mobile device from the App Store, and get started creating 8x8 Work shortcuts with Siri!

  

• New application-only ringtones: In addition to the ability to use the same ringtone as your device 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.

  

• Ability to mention users with identical names: If you try to mention a name that is used by multiple people in a public or private room, the @mention selection list now includes additional information, such as their email addresses, to help you identify the correct person.

  

• 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!

  

• Simplified management for voicemails and call logs: We have introduced a quicker way for you to manage your voicemails and call logs! As an iOS user, you can now swipe left on a call log or voicemail to manage it individually, or swipe right to manage multiple list items in addition to the selected call log or voicemail.

  

• 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.

  

  You can now paste numbers more easily by double-tapping the number entry field when it is empty.

  

  If the number you enter matches the number of a company or personal contact in your contact directory, the name of the matching contact shows up. If you enter a number not associated with any contact, you have the option to save the number as a new contact.

  

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

• 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.

  

• Improved conference call controls: While you are in a conference call, the Transfer and Park controls are now disabled to better reflect supported conference call functionality.

  

• Improved call transfer to company contacts: To better enable you to transfer a call to someone in your organization, tapping the Transfer option on a live call now brings you directly to the company directory rather than your list of recent calls.

  

• Enhanced voicemail experience: To improve performance, audio for each voicemail is now downloaded on demand rather than automatically. In addition, you are notified if there was an error during the download.
• 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.

    

  • 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.

    

• Notifications for upcoming meetings with synced calendar: Don't miss a single upcoming Virtual Office meeting! When you sync your Meetings list with your device calendar app, you receive device notifications for your upcoming meetings from 8x8 Work for Mobile, ensuring that you stay on top of your schedule. Swipe on the notification and confirm to view options for joining the meeting or reviewing meeting details.

  

  Meeting notifications are controlled via a new setting; to find it, open the More screen and go to Settings > Notifications.

  

• Ability to jump to current day in synced calendar: When you sync your Meetings list with your device calendar app, you can quickly navigate to today's meetings with a tap of the Today option, enabling you to quickly find your place in your schedule.

  

• 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.

• Cellular Assist now known as Cellular Minutes: The ability to use your cellular voice plan in addition to your data network for calls has been renamed to be more user-friendly.

  

• Calendar view for meetings: At a glance from within 8x8 Work for Mobile, you can review and access all upcoming and past Virtual Office meetings scheduled in calendar apps such as Google Calendar. In addition to meetings you host, you can view meetings you are invited to. To sync with your calendar apps, open your Meetings list, and accept the prompt to sync your calendar.
  

• Ability to promote calls to meetings: Let's say you're on a call with a company contact, or that 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 create a productive Virtual Office meeting, and bring the other party into the meeting. If you are talking to two other 8x8 Work users in a conference call, you can also bring both of them into a three-person meeting with you!
  

  Note: If the other party in the call is taking the call via the following versions of 8x8 Work, they receive and must accept the meeting invite via chat or email, instead of being brought in automatically:
  -Version 7.4 or earlier of 8x8 Work for Mobile.
  -Version 5.8 or earlier of 8x8 Work for Desktop.

• Option to silence incoming 8x8 Work calls while staying logged in: 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.

  
  For details, see our content on using the Do Not Disturb status.

• 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!
  
• Renamed Messages list : Your Recents list has been renamed to Messages.
  
• 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 and name, as well as the member list for a private room.
    

  • Better collaboration via shared rooms: Using 8x8 Sameroom, connect with your colleagues or clients who use other chat applications (such as Slack, Hipchat, or Google Hangouts) via shared rooms. With Team Messaging and Sameroom, connect with all your colleagues under a streamlined chat experience! You can even use shared rooms that are connected to the 8x8 Work chat rooms of another organization that uses 8x8. You can see whether your chat room is also a shared room next to the room's public/private label, and in the details page for the room.

    The AcmeJets engineering team communicates with contractors outside of their company; once the engineering room is connected to the contractors' usual chat app via Sameroom, the engineering room is labeled as a shared room, and the engineers can collaborate seamlessly with their contractor colleagues.
    

  • 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.
  

  

• Streamlined Meetings list: Enjoy a new experience in your Meetings list! With a click, access and stay on top of your meetings, and collaborate more effectively. When you open the screen, you always see your list of meetings first; you can then choose to open a listed meeting, create a new meeting, or join a meeting using a Meeting ID.