What’s New 🚨

Background Blur (BETA)

Around’s video circles are designed to hide a large portion of your background, but sometimes a bit more privacy is needed. With Background Blur, you can now fully obscure your video background so the focus stays on you and not your environment.

Where to find it: Right-click on your video avatar and select Blur Background or enable by default in Settings → Video.

Note: This feature is only available to macOS users with Apple Silicon (i.e. M1, M2). Support for other platforms is coming soon.

Live Transcriptions

Press record to immediately launch our latest feature, Live Transcriptions! See what’s being said in real-time, ensuring you never miss a word even in a loud environment or low volume situation. Additionally, live transcriptions are searchable, allowing you to recall something that was said earlier in the meeting.

Where to find it: The transcript panel opens automatically when a new recording is started

Note: This feature is not available in the mobile app. Transcriptions are currently only available for English

Hide Nearby Videos (Echo Prevention)

Our Echo Prevention feature allows people in the same room to connect to the same meeting without echo. Now, whenever you’re in an Echo Prevention group, you can hide any number of the video circles of other EP group members. This is useful for times you want to encourage yourself to look at in-person attendees instead of your computer. Additionally, hiding nearby videos improves the performance of Around by decreasing the number of videos displayed at the same time.

Where to find it: Join a meeting with Echo Prevention enabled and right click on another group member’s video circle or enable by default in Settings → Video.

Note: This feature is not available in the mobile app. Hiding nearby videos only affects your view and not what other people in the meeting see.

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• Branded Shared URLs: Links shared during a meeting are now visually more prominent in chat bubbles and display the visual branding for many commonly used services. Note: Want us to add branding for your favorite service? Let us know at support@around.co.
• iOS CallKit Support: With this feature we’ve improved call reliability by eliminating a major cause of audio drops due to other apps stealing focus.
• Preferences has been renamed to Settings to remain consistent with system level naming conventions.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could prevent Around from launching when part of data being migrated to a new machine or restoring from backup
• Fixed an issue that could cause a user to disconnect and reconnect to the same meeting repeatedly
• Adjusted highlight colors in emailed Notes to maintain proper contrast when viewed in light or dark mode
• Fixed an issue on mobile that could cause the app to become stuck on launch and require a restart

Let us know what you think 📣

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Around by Miro Labs experience even better.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Transcriptions (BETA)

Transcriptions are here! Now your team can easily reference what happened during the meeting, whether they were absent or just needed to refresh their memory on a specific topic.

Our Transcriptions feature quickly and accurately transcribes your recorded meetings and organizes them by attendee names and timestamps. Looking for a specific topic that was mentioned during a meeting? Just search for the keyword in the transcript and click on it to jump to that point in time in the recording.

How to create a transcript

Open the Recordings panel and click the Create a transcript icon beside the associated recording. Transcripts can be generated for any of your recordings regardless of when the recording was made.

Where to view a transcript

• Transcript only: open the Recordings panel and select the View transcript icon beside the associated recording.
• Transcript with recording: while watching a recording playback, open the meet menu, select Show Attendee List and then navigate to the Transcript tab.

Note: Live transcription is coming soon.

Menu Bar App (macOS)

For some meetings, every minute is crucial. And when joining a meeting like this, the last thing you want to see is a message that says, “This update will only take a minute.”

With our new Menu Bar app for macOS, you’ll no longer have to wait for Around to launch or an update to complete. In addition to always being ready to go, the Menu Bar introduces a new way to start a meeting, schedule a meeting or join a room from a URL without needing to open the Lobby. Whenever you’re in a meeting, you can now control your audio and video or start a new screen share from the Menu Bar, no matter where the Around window is.

Where to find it: Add Around to your Menu Bar in Preferences → General.

Note: This feature is only available to macOS users.

Bluetooth Discovery for Echo Prevention

We’ve added Bluetooth discovery to Echo Prevention, which means that it will now work with more complex network setups or organizations that utilize VPNs.

Our Echo Prevention feature allows people in the same room to connect to the same meeting without echo. Until now, we’ve primarily relied on participants having the same network address to correctly discover and form an Echo Prevention group.

While this works well for most applications, this method may not discover all possible group participants at organizations with more complex network setups or that make use of a VPN. By enabling Bluetooth discovery, Echo Prevention groups can now be formed more quickly and reliably.

Where to find it: Enable Bluetooth discovery in Preferences → Audio.

Note: In order for this method to work effectively, other nearby attendees must also turn on Bluetooth discovery in their Preferences.

Mobile App Chat

Our Chat feature allows users to communicate during a meeting without disrupting the current speaker. With our newest update, chat is now available for our Android and iOS users, so people on the go can be part of the conversation.

Where to find it: Click the chat icon next to the reactions bar.

Note: Haven’t tried out our mobile app yet? It has everything you need to collaborate with your team on the go, including screen sharing, seamless handoff between devices and AI noise cancellation to mute background noises. Download it now (iOS or Android) and let us know what you think!

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• Updated sign in screen: All sign in methods are now prominently displayed so it's easy to find the right one.
• UI Updates: We’ve made many small improvements to the Around UI, including:
  • Highlighting the Screen Sharing button to make it more prominent
  • Updating copy for several modals, alerts and dialogues for added clarity
  • Adding a Add to Google Calendar button directly in the meet window for scheduling future events
• Listen to recordings on mobile: Audio playback of a recorded meeting is now available in browser on mobile, so anyone with a recording link can listen back on any device.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could prevent a user from launching Miro Mode
• No more tiny faces. Emojis now display at the proper size on Windows
• Very long user and room names have been truncated in some instances to prevent overflowing into another element
• Recording playback performance has been improved, drastically reducing instances of stuck or flashing avatars

Let us know what you think 📣

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Around by Miro Labs experience even better.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New ❄️

Improvements

• Browse and Search All Miro Templates: You now have access to Miro’s entire library of 450+ ready-made templates to help your team collaborate more quickly and efficiently. To access, click the down caret beside the Miro toggle in the top center of the meet window and select Browse All Templates.

• New Room Card: The New room card has been relocated to the end of the room card list and its design has been updated for clarity.

• Message Visibility: No more missed messages. All messages are now displayed in the meet window, even when sent by a person whose video circle isn’t currently in view. Additionally, we’ve improved the visibility of the messages panel toggle to make finding all messages easier.

• Screen Sharing Layout: Video circles will no longer obscure any parts of an active screen share.

Fixes

• Another meeting attendee initiating a File Share or Screen Share will no longer cause an input field to lose focus when actively typing
• Fixed an issue that prevented a user from removing their profile picture
• Fixed an issue that would cause a shared file to be duplicated in some instances during recording playback

Until next year 🥂

What a year! We're so thankful for your continued support and look forward to making Around even better in the months and years to come.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Around by Miro Labs

We’ve integrated Miro’s visual collaboration platform into Around by Miro Labs (Around), which means your team can now gather around a Miro board and access Miro’s powerful collaboration features directly inside Around. Collaborate more effectively with instant access to new or existing boards and reduce fatigue by no longer having to toggle between apps. Your team can start ideating from a blank Miro canvas, or by using one of their pre-made templates designed to help teams tackle any task. The last Miro board used in a room is immediately available the next time you join, so your team can easily pick up where they left off.

Where to find it: Select Miro mode at the top of the meet window during a meeting

Note: To use this feature, you must connect a new or existing Miro account in Your Account. Meeting attendees on a mobile device can view an active Miro board but cannot create or edit boards or their content at this time.

New to Miro? Learn how to get the most out it with Miro Academy

Meeting Templates

To help your team save time and collaborate more efficiently, you can choose from a variety of ready-made meeting templates that support proven workflows. Pick a default meeting experience (ranging from brainstorms to retrospectives) and select from over 300 Miro templates that best match your needs. Around also stores all notes and Miro boards once the session ends, meaning teams can easily pick up where they left off.

Where to find it: From the Lobby, click to add a New room card

Note: To use this feature, you must connect a new or existing Miro account in Your Account.

Standup Meeting Template

Standups are one of the most popular types of meetings held in Around. As part of our new meeting templates feature, we've combined several of Around’s features into a seamless experience that encourages more productive and efficient standups, including:

1. Whenever a person joins a meeting, their name is automatically added to the room's Notes, along with text which prompts them to write out a quick update

2. You can set a timer to help ensure the meeting stays on track and doesn’t run over

3. Once the Standup has concluded, Notes can be stored in the room or sent to all meeting participants so there is always a record of what was discussed. Note: this can be configured in the room’s setting

Where to find it: Add a new room using the Standups meeting template

Lobby Redesign

We’ve integrated a ton of your feedback into our latest update to our Lobby! We've greatly reduced the size of the Lobby, simplifying the UI while making it easier to create new meeting rooms.

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

1. Image Sharing has moved: To make room for Miro Mode without adding another button to the meet window interface, we’ve moved Image Sharing to the Magic Menu. To use, click the 3 dots in the top right corner of the meet window and select Share Image or File with others. Note: For an even quicker way to share, simply drag and drop an image or file onto the Around meet window.

2. Schedule meetings in Google Calendar from Around: Quickly schedule a meeting with your team in Google Calendar using one of your existing rooms. Simply hover over the room card in your Lobby and click on the calendar icon. All room members are added as meeting guests automatically with no copy / paste required.

Fixes

1. Improved audio quality for all participants actively using Echo Prevention

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Around by Miro Labs experience even better.

Let us know what you think 📣

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Major Performance Improvements 🚀

Our team has been hard at work in this arena!

• Accelerated video rendering: We’ve made significant changes to our video rendering pipeline that should result in up to 50% less CPU and GPU usage, which means more leftover for the other collaboration tools you use with us.
• Improved backend infrastructure: We’ve made improvements to our backend infrastructure, meaning that users should be able to join meetings in less time—even during peak hours.

Download Recordings (Audio-only)

With the release of Recording, we asked for your feedback and are so appreciative of all your thoughtful responses. In order to better support the other tools and workflows you use, we’ve added the option to download an audio file of any recording.

Our product team is currently evaluating the ability to also download the video file and would love to hear your feedback about the use case and how it would be valuable.

Where to find it: Click the download icon beside the associated recording in the Recordings panel

Note: Recording is still in Beta. Please help us continue to improve this feature by letting us know if you’re experiencing any issues. You can email us at support@around.co.

Let us know what you think 📣

As you may know, Around was recently acquired by Miro, the online platform accelerating innovation through visual collaboration. Even though Around is now part of Miro, we will continue to operate in the same way as before. You can learn more from our CEO here.

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Around experience even better.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Recording Playback Improvements

Playback Speed

Didn’t quite hear what was said or want to watch the meeting you missed twice as fast? Simply adjust the recording Playback Speed to further tailor your watch experience to fit your preference.

Where to find it: On the right of the recording playback control bar

Share Link with Timestamp

It’s now possible to generate a recording share link that starts playback at a specific timestamp. This means that you can share a recording with someone else that’s already queued up to the moment that is relevant to them.

Where to find it: Click the down arrow beside the Copy Link button

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• Performance: We’ve been hard at work squashing performance hogs, resulting in a significant decrease in both CPU and GPU usage 💪
• (Android and iOS) Automatic GIF Removal: Just set it and forget it. GIFs are now automatically removed after 5 seconds, so once you’ve reacted to the moment you can focus back in on the conversation.

Fixes

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed a bug that could cause a recording to get stuck during “processing”
• (Android and iOS) Fixed an issue that could cause a connection to drop when switching between WIFI and LTE
• (Android) GIFs now render and play correctly

Let us know what you think 📣

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Around experience even better.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Event Rooms (BETA)

Introducing a new way to meet for groups of up to 100 people!

We know that hosting a meeting with a large number of participants requires a different approach than smaller meetings. With Event Rooms, we’ve introduced a new room interface and additional permissions to help facilitate effective communication. Most notably, Event Rooms feature a Stage area, where people from the audience can take the stage and address the crowd.

Note: Only event attendees that use the Take the stage button in the bottom left of the meet window can move to the stage and speak with the audience. Those not on the stage cannot use their camera or microphone, but can still communicate using GIF and emoji reactions or messages.

Additionally, Event Room admins have the ability to disable various feature sets (Vibes, Power-Ups, Annotations) during an event by using the Audience Settings menu in the top-right of the meet window. This means that it’s possible to shape the room environment to fit the style of event by limiting features that might be counterproductive or distracting.

Where to find it: Create a new room and set the Room Type to Event

Note: This feature is still in Beta. Please help us continue to improve larger meeting support by sharing your feedback and letting us know if you’re experiencing any issues. You can email us at support@around.co.

Resources: How to use an Event Room (BETA)

Messages

Another one of your most requested features is here!

Instead of user messages disappearing after a little time, they now persist for the duration of the meeting in our Messages panel. Additionally, users can pin important messages to their avatar by right-clicking on an active message (or opening the menu to the left of a past message) and selecting Pin message to avatar.

Where to find it: Click the messages icon (💬) at bottom of the meet window

Note: Message history is not visible during recording playback.

Power-Ups

While talking with users, we often hear that Around’s simple UI is part of why they fell in love with the product. As we’ve been rapidly adding many new features to Around, this has left the meet window feeling a bit cluttered for some. The new Power-Ups menu consolidates all of the Vibes, Games and Productivity features into one place and reduces the number of menu toggles in the meet window.

Where to find it: During a meeting, click the Power-Ups button in the bottom right of the meet window.

Echo Prevention for iOS

Now available to iOS users, Echo Prevention allows multiple people to be on the same call in the same physical space without creating unwanted echo. This means that you can use your own device wherever you are, while leaving your headphones in your bag. To learn more about how Echo Prevention works, watch the tutorial or read our guide.

Where to find it: Join a meeting while using the same Wi-Fi as another meeting participant

Note: Support for Android is coming soon

Mobile UI Redesign

This is more than just a fresh coat of paint. Our mobile app has received an interface overhaul to make participating in a meeting feel more natural and intuitive. Additionally, mobile users will never miss a reaction with the added Reactions Feed, which shows GIF and emoji reactions for every participant, even when their video circle isn't currently visible.

Where to find it: Visit around.co/download from your mobile device to download the app

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• Windows UI: Cutting corners isn’t always a bad thing. Our team has polished the Windows app – and rounded a few edges – to make it more consistent with other platforms
• Recording Visibility: We’ve made it easier to start a recording and view existing recordings by adding corresponding buttons in the Lobby and meet window
• Auto-Volume: For those that like that extra bit of control, it’s now possible to disable Around’s automatic microphone volume adjustment. From the Lobby, click your avatar and select Preferences → Audio → Automatically adjust microphone volume to adjust
• Slack Integration: We’ve rebuilt this to fix some common issues and prepare for future improvements

Fixes

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed an Echo Prevention bug that would prevent a user from leaving and then successfully rejoining an Echo Prevention Group during the same meeting
• Windows: Right-clicking on your avatar will no longer change your video filter

What’s Coming 🚴‍♀️

As always, your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. With the introduction of Event Mode, we’d love to hear about your experience with this feature along with how we can make it even better. Please let us know by reaching out to support@around.co.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say Привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Recording (BETA)

We’ve been hard at work for the past several months and are excited to say that Recording is here! This means you can now record an Around meeting and watch it at a later time.

Of course, we couldn’t resist sprinkling in some of that signature Around magic. ✨ What makes Recording particularly unique is our immersive playback experience. Even if you missed out on the meeting, it’s designed to make you feel as though you were actually there. 🤯

Instead of having to watch from the point of view of the person that made the original recording, you can move through the app as you normally would and use whichever mode fits your work style. During playback, you can navigate to any of the standard modes (e.g. Floating, Campfire, Minimal, etc.) and use several in-meeting features, like Attendee List and Pin for Me. For example, if you typically prefer to do meetings in Floating Mode, you can also view recordings in Floating Mode.

Note: This feature is still in Beta. Support for additional features like Shortcuts and Notes Mode are coming in the future. Please help us continue to improve Recording by letting us know if you’re experiencing any issues. You can email us at support@around.co.

Have Recording feedback you'd like to share directly with our Product Manager? You can schedule a time to talk with them here.

How to start a recording:

Any member of a permanent room or the creator of an ad-hoc room can start a recording. There are two ways:

• Open the magic menu in the top-right of the meet window and select Record Meeting.
• Type /record in the thought input at the bottom of the meet window and press enter.

Where to view recordings:

Go to your Lobby, click your avatar and select Recordings (Beta)... to open the Recordings panel. You can see all of the recordings you have created, as well as any recordings made in rooms where you’re a member.

Resources

• Video: Around Recording Tutorial
• Article: How To Use Recording (BETA)

In celebration of launching recording, here is a haiku from our team 🍃

Recordings are (a)live!
Try our immersive playback
Feels like you're there

Gallery Mode

Until now, Campfire Mode has been the go-to place for focused discussions and circling up with the team. For some meeting types, however, we’ve heard from you that the circles can feel either too small or spread out. So for those instances, we’ve introduced a new way to meet – Gallery Mode – which features a video squircle shape that captures more body language (like hand gestures) and has a more traditional grid layout.

Where to find it: Navigate to Campfire Mode and use the toggle in the top-right corner to change layouts.

Notes

Stored Notes

Some meeting types, like 1:1s or stand ups, can benefit from reviewing past notes, so we’ve added a new room option where notes are automatically stored. This means whenever you jump into a room, you’ll be able to see what was written in the notes previously.

Where to find it: Go to the room card in the Lobby, open the room options and click Edit Room...

Note: If you decide to store notes in your room, participants will not receive them over email once the meeting ends.

Write All Names

Need to jot everyone’s name down in a meeting? You can now add all current meeting attendee names directly in Notes with the press of a button. This is perfect for meetings where you need to capture status updates, for example.

Where to find it: In Notes Mode, click More → Write everyone’s name down in the Notes toolbar.

Raise All Hands

Many of our users love our Raise Hands feature because it makes it easy to moderate conversations or conduct specific meetings like standups. And in the case of the latter, we’ve made this feature even more helpful with the addition of Raise All Hands. When it’s time for everyone to give an update, simply click “Raise All Hands” to instantly add a raised and numbered hand for each attendee that is currently in the meeting.

Where to find it: Click the dropdown arrow beside the hand-raise icon ✋

Add Any User to a Workspace By Email

The member management panel has been revamped and now includes the ability to add new members by email, even if the email is different from your Workspace domain. This means you can now add external contractors or temporary team members to your Workspace, even if they don’t have a company email address.

Where to find it: From the Lobby, click your avatar → Manage Workspace and navigate to the Members tab.

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• Automatic Updates: New Around updates are now downloaded and installed automatically. Additionally, any users joining a meeting that don't have any seconds to spare can click the meeting link in the modal to immediately join via browser.

• Timer Sound: The Timer now plays a sound to all meeting attendees once it ends

• Sharpened Screen Share: We've made improvements to screen sharing quality and legibility. (Tip: You can compare the before/after by right clicking on someone's screen share and deselecting "Enhance.")

Fixes

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed an issue where a person using cmd + z could undo another person’s changes while in Notes Mode
• Unplugging a microphone will no longer mute a person automatically, but instead enable the next available device
• Fixed an iOS issue that would sometimes cause a person’s microphone to no longer send audio to other meeting attendees
• Plugged a memory leak which was causing Around to consume more memory than it should have
• Fixed an issue that could cause unplugging and replugging a device to make it become unresponsive

What’s Coming 🚴‍♀️

Your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. With the introduction of Recording, we’d love to hear about your experience with this feature along with how we can make it even better. Please let us know by reaching out to support@around.co. And for inquiring minds, several exciting new features are coming soon, including improved large meeting support and chat.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say Привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Call Ratings

As part of our commitment to continually improve product quality, we’ve introduced a new way for you to easily share your Around experience with us. At the end of each meeting, you’ll have the opportunity in the Lobby to rate your call quality and – if it wasn’t perfect – let us know what could be better. Whenever you submit a call rating, our support team is automatically sent the information needed to quickly and precisely identify the issue.

The more ratings you submit, the more quickly we can identify issues and improve Around’s call quality for everyone. Please take a few moments after each meeting to go to the Lobby and tell us about your Around experience. Thank you!

In celebration of call ratings, here is a haiku from one of our PMs 🍃

Rate our quality,
with one, two, three, four, or five
We listen to you

Codenames

You've asked for more team-building games—and we're excited to share we’ve partnered with board game publisher Czech Games Edition to add one of the best ones into Around.

Codenames is a word association game where two teams of spy networks race to be the first to correctly guess all of their field agent’s code names. It’s a simple game that your entire team can play (with no super-human reflexes required!). Codenames can support up to 50 players, although 6-10 players might be more comfortable. 🤠

How to play Codenames: New to the game? Watch our 2-min video for instructions. You can find Codenames in Around by clicking "New Game" from the Lobby or from the "Vibes & Games" menu during a meeting.

Enter the Codenames Giveaway

There is just one week left to enter our giveaway celebrating the launch of Codenames!

The Prize: Ten lucky people will receive their own physical copy of the Codenames board game. Two extra lucky people will also receive their own field agent gear: a pair of Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses!

How To Enter: Take a photo of your team playing Codenames in Around and share it on LinkedIn or Twitter. Please tag Around and Czech Games Edition as well! We'll reach out to the winners on March 16.

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• You can now specify a custom time length for the Timer! Click the dropdown arrow beside the hand-raise icon and choose Set Custom Timer… to open the custom time dialog. Then, either enter a custom value or use your arrow keys to adjust the minutes and/or seconds value in increments of 5.
• In non-Floating modes, the number of recently used GIF or emoji reactions to the right of the reactions bar has been increased to 5
• Permanent room members are now listed separately from guests in the Attendee List
  
  

Fixes

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed an issue where a user joining via the browser would not be able to send any audio for the first 10 seconds of the call
• Fixed an issue where clicked meeting links would launch the app but not open the meeting room unless they were clicked again
• Fixed an issue that could cause video squircles to render incorrectly in some instances
• The video filter color is now correctly set to green when playing Codenames Duet
  
  

What’s Coming 🚴‍♀️

Have you heard the one about recording yet? It’s still on the roadmap and on its way! We can’t wait to hear what you think once it’s available. In addition, we have several new productivity features coming right around the corner.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say Привіт. 🇺🇦

What’s New 🚨

Workspaces (BETA)

With Workspaces, admins can now view and manage your organization’s rooms and members in a single place. Workspaces is available to any organization using a Google Workspace account and allows you to:

• Manage all of your organization's rooms and members, including the ability to set room permissions and user permissions (i.e. admins or members)
• Create organization-wide rooms (e.g. All-Hands) so members never need to search for a meeting link
• Automatically add new members to any rooms you choose
  
  

Where to find it: Click “+ Create Workspace” in the bottom of the lobby window to get started.

Resources: How To Use Workspaces

1:1 Mode (with squircles!)

Going forward, 1:1s in Campfire Mode might look just a little different. Namely, our friendly circles are now larger and more square. The reason? One of our goals is to help remote teams feel more connected and we’ve often heard from users that when meeting with one other person (like a one-on-one), it would enhance conversations to see someone’s facial expressions and body language more clearly.

Based off this feedback, we’ve created 1:1 Mode to make this experience better. With larger and 2x higher resolution video, as well as a squircle shape that captures more body language (like hand gestures), we can hopefully bring you that little bit closer together, even if you’re working on opposite ends of the globe.

Where to find it: You can try this out by going into Campfire Mode in a meeting with one other person.

Timer

Interested in a way to keep your meetings more on track? Try out our new Timer, which is inspired by agile meeting best practices and can help encourage more focus and efficiency. For example, during a daily standup or status report, you can set a timer to establish a maximum amount of time for each participant’s update. For other meetings, having a visible countdown of the total meeting time can be very effective at keeping everyone on task.

Where to find it: Click the dropdown arrow beside the hand-raise icon and choose one of our ready-made timer lengths. Once the timer has started, you can click on the time remaining indicator to add time increments or cancel the current timer.

Note: The ability to set a custom time length is coming in the future. We’d also love to hear your feedback on how we could make this feature more useful! You can share your thoughts in a 2-min survey here.

Video Scrolling for Larger Meetings

Last month, we introduced Video Scrolling for Floating Mode so you could easily view all participant’s video circles without the need to resize the floating window. We’ve now added Video Scrolling to the Campfire, Notes and Image Sharing Modes so during larger meetings—where the number of participants exceeds the available real estate—you can still navigate through all the video circles and see everyone.

This is part of a larger effort to make Around better for larger meetings like all-hands, along with other features including:

• Support for up to 50 participants in a meeting
• Attendee List: View all participants at a glance, along with their name, avatar, local time zone and options for interaction (like Pin for me).
• Reactions Feed: Shows GIF and emoji reactions for every participant whose video circle isn't currently visible.
  
  

Note: Have you had a chance to try out Around in larger meetings and have feedback to share? Or a feature you'd like to see? Let us know here.

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

Improvements

• The meeting window UI has been adjusted slightly, including relocating the Vibes & Games button to the bottom-right of the window and the Minimal Mode toggle to the top-left.
• Your two most recently used GIF or emoji reactions now appear to the right of the reactions bar and can be selected with a single click, allowing you to react even more quickly.
• It is no longer necessary to remove all room members to delete a room. Instead, a room admin can open the room menu and select “Delete Room” from the lobby.
• You can now update your profile picture without needing to relaunch the meeting for it to take effect.
• Draw in more places! You can now use annotations when sharing a specific window.
• For users with an external audio interface: Around now accepts both mono and stereo microphones. In the case of stereo, signals from both channels will be downmixed to mono.
• Browser: When sharing your screen, you will now see a floating video window just like in the app.
• iOS: You can now view other user’s annotations during a screen share.
• Android: Video is now available on our mobile app, complete with our signature friendly circles, background cropping, and colorful filters.
  
  

Looking ahead: As we continue to explore new ways to help your team feel connected, we'd love to hear about your experience with Vibes and Games. You can share your thoughts in a 2-min survey here.

Fixes

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed an issue where a Google Calendar meeting room for a recurring event would be deleted if a single instance of the recurring event was cancelled
• Various reliability and quality fixes for Echo Prevention
  
  

What’s Coming 🚴‍♀️

All things come to those who wait, and the next big thing coming to the Around app is recording! Our team is rigorously testing and adding the final touches and we can’t wait to hear what you think once it’s available.

That's all for now! Ping us at support@around.co if you run into any issues or just want to say Nnọọ. 👋