Slack adds video to Huddles chats

Chat app Slack adds a video feature to its audio chat feature Huddles. The company announced this at its own Frontiers event. The video is turned off by default, but users can turn it on with the push of a button.

Slack added the feature because users requested it, says the company† There are still no ways to schedule Huddles in advance and there is no recording function either. According to Slack, this is to enable more ‘spontaneous’ ways of working together. Due to the lack of both functions, it should feel more like talking spontaneously in the workplace, instead of a scheduled meeting.

There is, however, a way to share a screen with multiple users at the same time. Huddle videos can be in Slack’s sidebar or in a separate window. Chats during Huddles are separate threads that remain in Slack. Functions such as reactions with emojis and stickers are also possible while communicating via video.

The Huddles feature has been around for a year and is in Slack groups and DMs. Slack has not released any data on how many users use the feature on a regular basis. It is also unknown how often Huddles users call the function.