You can now send voice messages in Google Chat, and this can make things tricky
Staying in touch with friends and colleagues could soon be even easier after Google Chat revealed it now supports voice messaging.
The instant messaging tool, part of Google Workspace, has so far been entirely text and image based, but hopes the addition of voice messaging will help Google Chat become “a useful tool for seamless communication.”
The feature will initially launch on mobile devices, with support for both Android and iOS, with Google adding that it plans a web launch soon.
Voice messages from Google Chat
Recording a voice message is as simple as tapping the microphone icon in a chat window, where users can preview their message before sending it, before choosing whether to send or delete it.
Users will be able to send voice messages on mobile devices (to direct messages, group chats and rooms) and receive them on iOS and Android, with web support ‘coming soon’.
In a Google Workspace updates blog post When announcing the feature, the company noted, “By sending a voice message instead of typing, you can save time, convey more information, and highlight the most important information to the message recipient.”
It added that the “highly requested” feature will be enabled by default for users, but can be disabled, and that voice messages can be quoted, commented on and replied to in a thread, just like a text message.
The feature is available to Google Workspace users with Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Enterprise Plus.
Google Chat hasn’t gotten much love from its creator in recent months, but it did unveil a major update in August 2023 to improve interoperability between Google Chat and competing services like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
This move should benefit larger organizations, which typically use more than one messaging service internally, not to mention others used for external communications with customers and clients, which Google says can be a major cause of conversation silos.