Messenger Signal gets functions for video conferences

Video conferencing with Signal: The messenger wants to address companies and organizations in particular with new functions.

(Image: Daniel Constante/Shutterstock.com)

Jul 15, 2024 at 9:14 pm CEST

2 min. read

By

Eva-Maria Weiß

This article was originally published in German and has been automatically translated.

What Teams can already do, Signal will soon be able to do too: The messenger is getting video conferencing functions that are primarily aimed at companies and organizations. This includes, for example, the ability to raise your hand in video conferences in future. Other communication products for conferences are already attracting attention in this way. There are also emojis and you will be able to share your screen in the future.

We probably all learned to raise our hand when we wanted to say something as a child and can also intuitively select the button to draw attention to ourselves in a video conference. One click, raise your hand, another click is needed to put your hand down again.

If someone else is speaking, their contribution can be commented on with emojis. There is a choice of applause, teary-eyed laughing, sad-looking and amazed emojis as well as thumbs out and thumbs down. The latter is primarily intended to capture a brief mood – not so much to put down the other person's contribution.

Another new feature is that you can share your screen with other participants, for example to show presentations. "We know from surveys that many German companies and organizations already use Signal regularly for internal communication and video conferencing," says Signal spokesperson Martin Bartenberger. The new functions are intended to further simplify this and make Signal even more interesting as a "secure and free communication solution". The functions are already available with the current Signal versions: For Android this is version 7.9, iOS 7.19 and desktop 7.15.

Using Signal with a secret phone number

Signal recently made it possible to network without having to reveal your phone number. Instead, a username is sufficient. This must be selected and stored in the account settings. It consists of a word and at least a two-digit number connected by a dot. However, this does not mean that Signal can also be used without a telephone number. Of course, registration still requires a telephone number. You can then select in the settings whether you want to show this to other contacts.