If you love group calls on Signal, but don’t want to create a group chat for every combination of your friends or colleagues, you’re in luck. Today we’re launching call links: Share a link with anyone on Signal and in just a tap or click they can join the call. No group chat required.
Call links join a suite of other features to improve Signal calling including a raise hand button, emoji reactions, a dedicated calls tab, and a number of improvements to the look and feel of Signal calls.
We believe that however you want to communicate – a text, a call, a voice message, a GIF, a video call, a story – you should be able to do it privately. We first introduced private, end-to-end encrypted voice calls in Signal calling back in 2014. Keeping with the times, we added video calls in 2017 and group video calls in 2020.
Today, Signal as an organization runs all of our meetings using Signal calls, treating them as a substitute for the surveillance-heavy video meeting services that grew in popularity after COVID hit.
We know we’re not alone here. Video calls have become a new normal meeting place for organizations, workplaces, and groups of friends all over the world. As communication norms change, Signal’s promise of a private place to communicate stays the same.
To make Signal calling better overall, we’ve spent the last few months building some welcome improvements. All of these features are available in the latest versions of Signal for Android, iOS, and Desktop. Update Signal to try them out!
Here’s what’s new:
- Call links: Instead of having to create a Signal group chat before starting a group call, you can create a link to let anyone on Signal quickly join a call. No group chat needed!
- Raise hand button: Let people know that you have a question, a comment, or a joke to make without interrupting the flow of conversation
- Emoji reactions in calls to make for a more dynamic conversation
- Dedicated calls tab on your Signal home screen to see all of your call history in one place
- More options to view speakers and participants when using Signal Desktop
- Updated call settings to more easily turn your camera and mic on or off
Call links
In the past, to start a group call in Signal you needed to first create a Signal group chat, then add people, and only then could you start a group call. Not anymore! Now, you can create a quick and easy link that anyone on Signal can use to join a call without having to join a Signal group chat first.
To create a call link, open Signal on your phone or Desktop and navigate to the calls tab. Tap or click to create a call link. You can decide if you want to name your link and whether you want to have control over approving people who want to join or if anyone can join without approval. By default, you’ll have to approve people before they can join a call.
Once it’s created, you can share your call link however you like.
If you’ve chosen to require admin approval before people can join a call, you’ll see requests to join the call which you can approve or decline. You can also remove people from calls and optionally block them from the call so they can’t join again.
Call links are reusable, so if you have a recurring phone date with your best friends or a weekly check-in with your coworkers, there’s no need to make a new call link every time.
Group calls are supported for up to 50 people.
For more details about how call links work, check out additional information in our support center.
Raise hand button and emoji reactions
To make for a richer calling experience without disrupting the pace of conversation, you can use the new raise hand button or share emoji reactions.
When multiple people raise their hands in a call, anyone in the call will be able to see the list of raised hands so that everyone can keep track of whose turn it is to speak. This way, everyone can weigh in without talking over each other when you ask all your friends for their opinion.
Emoji reactions let you give some quick feedback to whatever is being said – celebrate someone’s good news, send some love, or tell everyone that your mind is blown without having to interrupt the speaker. And if enough people share the same emoji reaction in a short amount of time, you’ll see a fun emoji burst.
Further calling improvements
We’ve improved calls in Signal with several other changes.
You’ll now see a dedicated tab at the bottom of your phone screen or at the left-hand side of your Desktop app screen for all of your calls. You can much more easily see your call history, call people back, and manage your call links.
You now also have more options for how you view call participants when calling via the Desktop app. You can now choose if you want to see them in Grid view, Sidebar view, or Speaker view.
We’ve updated the call control buttons, making it easier to turn your camera and microphone on or off, manage your speaker source, and see who else is in a call.
Try out these new features on the latest version of Signal for Android, Desktop, and iOS. We’ll keep on improving for Signal everyone who needs to connect with each other securely all over the world. To try out the latest features and offer crucial early feedback, join our beta!