Video chat as a group

Start and join group video chats from Hipchat rooms. Up to 20 of your teammates can join the video chat.

Starting group video chats from rooms

To start a video chat in a Hipchat room:

1. Join the room if you're not already in it.
2. In the upper right corner, click . You're dropped right into a video chat. 
   Note: If you only want to make an audio call, click  to turn off your camera.
3. Wait for teammates to join. (They'll click an invitation that was sent to the room.)
4. To share your screen, click .
5. When you're finished with the video chat, click  to leave.

Joining group video chats from rooms

When a video chat is started in a Hipchat room, you'll see an invitation appear in the chat view.

Screenshot: Invitation message

To join a video chat from a room:

1. Join the room if you're not already in it.
2. Click the invitation message. You're dropped right into the video chat. 
   Note: If you only want to make an audio call, click  to turn off your camera. 
3. To share your screen, click . 
4. When you're finished with the video chat, click  to leave.

Video chat 1-to-1

When you need to meet with just one teammate, start a 1-to-1 video chat in Hipchat.

Starting 1-to-1 video chats

To start a 1-to-1 video chat:

1. Start a 1-to-1 chat with a teammate.
2. In the upper right corner, click .
3. To share your screen, click .
4. When you're finished with the video chat, click  to leave.

Answering 1-to-1 video calls

When another teammate starts a 1-to-1 video chat with you, you'll get notifications (unless you've turned them off). Depending on how you've set your notifications, you may hear a ring or see a pop up prompting you to answer or ignore the call.

Screenshot: Notification for incoming call

When you miss a call, you'll see a new 1-to-1 chat open in your list of chats. The 1-to-1 chat will have a message letting you know about the missed call.

Adding people to video chats

When you're in a group or 1-to-1 video chat and realize you need to consult with a few more people, share the link to the video chat with them and they can jump right in.

You can share this link with teammates or you can invite guests with the link. 

Sharing links to video chats

To share the video chat's link and add more people to the chat:

1. Click   > Add Participants.
2. Click Copy next to the video chat's link. By default, anyone with this link can join. You can add a password, so people are required to enter it before they can join the video chat.
3. Optional: Type a password and click Add. 
4. Share this link and the password (if you added one) with the people you want to join the video chat. 

Joining video chats from shared links

When someone wants you to join an in-progress video chat, they'll send you a link and a password (if they added one) to the video chat. To join, just click the link or copy it into a browser window and, if prompted, enter the password for the video chat. You're dropped right into the video chat.

Better quality video chats

Here are some more features you can use to have better video chats:

• Be polite and raise your hand when you need to speak. Click  to let everyone know you have something to say. 
• If you've got a lot of background noise, mute yourself. Hover at the top, then click  from the menu bar. To unmute yourself while you talk, push down the space bar. 
• When another participant has a lot of background noise, go ahead and mute them. Hover over their thumbnail, then click  > . They can unmute themselves when they're talking. For privacy reasons, you can't unmute someone else. 
• Focus on the main speaker even when others are talking. Pin the speaker's video, so the video no longer switches among the various participants. Click their thumbnail and they'll show up on the board.
• See the quality of everyone's connection. Look for the  in their thumbnail. If their connection is bad, it'll turn orange or red. Hover over it to get more details.
• Use the keyboard shortcuts. Type ? to see them.
• Test your sound or choose your camera, microphone, and audio output. Click .

Setting your notifications

Two notifications settings are specific to video calls:

• You can choose to play a sound when you have an incoming video call.
• You can also choose whether you want to get notified of incoming video calls when your status is set to "do not disturb."

All other in-app notification settings apply to incoming video calls, except the setting to bounce the Hipchat icon in the dock.

For instructions on setting your notifications, see Get and set notifications.