What’s New 🚨

This latest release kicks off a new chapter for us at Around. In addition to improving our signature experience for video calls, we're also expanding our focus to include features that allow hybrid-remote teams to come together in different ways, whether it's co-working, happy hours, or recharge breaks. You can learn more about this in a note from our CEO.

Please give these new features a spin and let us know what you think. Your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. ❤️

• Happy Hour
  Want to add some color to your next team hang or co-working session? Take the experience to new heights with our Happy Hour feature. Click New Happy Hour from the Lobby, choose your desired Vibe (Synthwave? Chillhop? Night Drive?) and get launched into an immersive Campfire Mode experience that includes a curated selection of musical playlists and gorgeous visuals. Throw a few GIFs and emojis into the mix and you're off to the races. 🥳

• You can also add Vibes to your existing meeting! Just click the Music & Vibes toggle 🎵 in the top-right of the Around meeting window and choose your Vibe. The user that starts the Vibe will see a dropdown toggle next to the active Music & Vibes icon which allows them to adjust the music volume, navigate between tracks, and pause the current track.

• Games
  Need a break? We've got just the thing for a recharge. Head to the Lobby and click Play to jump into a quick multiplayer game. Just share the game link to invite others to join you.
  
  The first game in our roster is Boom Party, where the objective is to use dynamite to eradicate other players until you're the last one standing. Dynamite can also blast through walls so you can clear a path to other players more quickly. There are power-ups you can collect, which may help or hurt your chances of winning. 🧨
  
  Use the arrow keys to navigate and press the space bar to drop dynamite on the tile you’re standing on, but make sure to run away before it blows up and takes you out too. ☠
  
  Note: More titles are coming in the future. Got a suggestion for a game you'd like to see? Let us know at community@around.co.

• Icebreakers
  Did that presentation deserve a round of applause? Or cheering from the stands?
  
  In addition to reacting with GIFs and emojis, you can now respond with Icebreakers, which are short audio reactions that can be heard by everyone in the meeting. Open the reactions panel by pressing T and then select an icebreaker from the right-hand menu.
  
  Tip: As with many things in life, Icebreakers are most effective and enjoyable when done in moderation. 😉

• Browser Floating Mode + Video Modes
  Two of our signature features are now available directly from your browser, so guests can also enjoy the Around experience without downloading the app. 🎉
  
  Floating Mode hovers on your desktop and frees up your screen so you can easily get work done with others. Click the Floating Mode tab at the top of the window to pop your video out of your browser. Give it a try by switching tabs or using it on top of another application, like Google Docs or Figma.
  
  Video Modes (i.e. filters like Mai Tai or Gameboy) bathe you in liquid light and amp up the atmosphere to add energy to your sessions and get more done. Click in the center of your video circle to cycle through and find your favorite one.
  
  
• Notes Available on Mobile
  Our latest mobile release (1.3) for Android and iOS comes with Notes! You can now collaborate on Notes with your team right from your device. And at the end of the meeting, those notes are sent directly to your inbox. 💌

Quality and Performance Updates 🌟

As Around matures from beta to 1.0, we are extremely focused on product quality, including battery usage, performance, CPU and memory usage, network stability and support for all popular devices and browsers. Please help us continue to improve Around by letting us know if you’re experiencing any issues with quality and performance. You can email us at support@around.co.

Improvements

• EchoTerminator Updates
  As you may know, our EchoTerminator feature allows people in the same room with different devices to connect to the same meeting with all mics on and no echo. There's no need to keep yourself muted or any expensive A/V equipment required. It may not be magic, but it certainly feels like it.
  
  We are always working on new improvements to EchoTerminator. If you've tried it in the past and experienced issues, we'd love for you to take it for another spin. Thanks to your feedback (and a dash of coding magic), EchoTerminator users should now see better sync, as well as reduced CPU usage, battery consumption, and audio artifacts (i.e. unwanted hums or buzzing).
  
  Note: In order to work properly, all users in an EchoTerminator group must be using the desktop app.
  
  
• Want to quickly remove your video mode without the need to cycle to the beginning? Simply right-click on your video circle and press Remove Filter
• The Around Lobby has undergone a refresh to highlight our new Vibe and Play modes
• We've taken some our most popular features and made them available through Slash Commands. From the reactions panel (T), simply type / to see what commands are available. With these commands, you can instantly ignite a fire in Campfire Mode or shrink your Around window with Minimal Mode. And /party-parrot is a surefire way to get the party started. 🌈

Fixes

• Many creepy crawlies have been stomped in this latest release, including bugs relating to performance, battery life and memory usage.

Let us know what you think 💌

New features galore (and lots more to come)! Try a Happy Hour and play a couple rounds of Boom Party with your team, then go to your Lobby and click the Send feedback icon ✉️ to let us know what you think. Don't be afraid to creep it real with us (we had to add at least one Halloween pun, sorry).

And for inquiring minds, never fear, recording is still on the roadmap and on its way!

One more thing 🎉

To celebrate this release, we're selecting 5 people to receive the latest AirPods (3rd generation). All you have to do is take a photo or video of your team trying out one of our new features (Happy Hour/Vibes or Games) and post it to Twitter or LinkedIn (don't forget to tag us!). The deadline to enter is Tuesday, Oct 26 at 9 am PT.

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