Microsoft could be about to dial up its nostalgia settings if a new posting to the company’s product roadmap is to be believed. The new entry casts tentative light on a possible speed dial function across mobile devices for Microsoft Teams.
Soon, you might be able to hop on a call with your most frequently used contacts that bit quicker, thanks to a shiny new speed dial function arriving first on iOS, and then rolling out to other mobile clients.
- These are the best video chat apps for home working
- Need a better PC? These are the best laptops we've tested
- Plus: Memorial Day sales 2021 — all the best early deals
The post touts the feature as arriving in Teams on iOS mobile devices sometime in the next month, with it still currently being under active development.
What's it actually for then? Well, it's a hyper-relevant question considering smartphones have just about superseded anything even remotely resembling rotary dial phones, plus provided an insane amount of flexibility in how you contact people.
Microsoft's roadmap entry, says: “This feature makes your most-used calling contacts easy to access with one tap dialing.”
Back to basics
Currently, information is very scarce beyond what's already been relayed; still, it begs the question as to what value Microsoft thinks such a feature would bring above Teams' existing contact page and what payoff a user can expect to gain from using it.
For now, the jury's out on speed dial until anything is confirmed, plus Roadmaps are always subject to change. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been busy improving Teams in other ways, namely through several Microsoft Teams video upgrades, which give hosts better control over who is on screen. Organizers will be able to manually disable and enable video from specific attendees, or turn off the feeds of everyone on a call.
In addition, Microsoft is improving Teams by opening up its APIs, Teams Store and tools to collaborative apps. As reported by The Verge, developers will be able to build apps that plug into the Teams meeting canvas, as well as ones that use in-app purchases or subscriptions. Devs can even create apps that get access to Team's real-time video and audio. Apps built for Teams will work across Windows, Mac, the web, iOS, Android, and even Linux.
More: Microsoft Teams just stole this big feature from Slack
