A major upgrade is rolling out for the weirdest feature in Microsoft Teams
Multi-channel listening is coming to Microsoft Teams Walkie Talkie mode
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One of the oddestMicrosoft Teamsfeatures is getting a major upgrade to help the service become even more personalized.
Thevideo conferencingtool has revealed an expansion to Walkie Talkie mode that will now offer the chance to communicate over multiple channels is rolling out now.
The upgrade will mean thatMicrosoftTeams users can now connect quickly to multiple teams or accounts, hopefully improving communication and collaboration across projects and businesses.
Microsoft Teams Walkie Talkie
First announced in January 2020, initially for Android devices before expanding to Microsoft Teams phonesin September 2021, Walkie Talkie is described in the roadmap entry as, “a push-to-talk experience that enables clear and secure voice communication over the cloud, enabl(ing) teams to communicate instantly on a channel.”
The feature is targeted at a number of specific industry use cases, and could reduce the number of devices employees need to carry each day while providing added security when compared to analog devices. It can work over both a cellular or wireless connection, with users simply needing to press and hold a button to speak to their team, and release the button to listen.
The new addition, which is rolling out now for users on iOS and Android devices, will allow users to connect to up to five favorite channels in multi-channel mode, as well as being able to automatically listen to incoming transmission from these favorited channels and initiate easily initiate PTT transmission on these channels.
Firstline workers can further boost the usefulness of the walkie talkie feature by connecting either a wired or wireless headset, as Microsoft looks to expand Teams to as many users as possible.
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The company has been working hard on making Teams a more pleasant experience for mobile users in recent months, including making it easier for users tojoin Microsoft Teams meetings when using a smartphone, removing some of the unnecessary steps and making sure users are set up the way they like when joining a call.
It also recently unveiled anew Microsoft Teams layoutthat the company says makes navigating around the Android and iOS apps a lot simpler, allowing users to quickly and easily find the channels or chats they need.
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Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK’s leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he’s not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.
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