Office messaging platform rolls out voice calls

Slack had previously announced that voice chat would start testing "very, very soon", but it has already started rolling out the new "Calls" feature on Slack for Desktop and on the Chrome browser.

The feature lets you start a private Slack Call or launch a conference call in a channel that anyone can join with a click. You can also send visual emoji reactions that appear overlaid on your profile picture to others on the call. Really cool.

Slack already offers integrations with other calling apps like Skype, GoogleHangouts, and Zoom. But those require a separate installation are not so easy to use by comparison.

Slack Calls only need to be enabled by a team's admin and blends in seamlessly with the Slack experience.

The company also announced that video chat is in the works although it plans to face that only after it has completed the rollout of voice chat on all devices first.

I think this feature makes sense. Imagine you're having a text conversation with a colleague and you need to quickly have a discussion to clarify an issue, you can just easily call the person and clarify whatever needs clarification. Neat.

The feature (and the others being planned) also transform Slack from being just a workplace text tool to a full communication tool. You can't drag that.