Microsoft announced the release of new Skype Insider update this week, which brings a couple of new features across all platforms. The biggest addition is a “Raise hand” feature for Skype video meetings, which will add an icon next to your name every time you raise your hand to notify other participants that you would like to speak.
“Very handy for classroom meetings, but you can also use it as a simple voting mechanism,” the Skype team said about this new Raise hand feature. Microsoft Teams, the company’s communication hub for Microsoft 365 got a similar Raise hand feature earlier this year, which was a top-requested feature from Teams users.
The latest Insider build 8.65 is out, and we have pretty cool features for you like Raise hand, Background Blur for Android and others. 8️⃣ . 6️⃣ 5️⃣ . 7️⃣ 6️⃣ . 7️⃣ 3️⃣ is what you are looking for. https://t.co/BDPZty9h2f pic.twitter.com/qJ1NflmzVK
— Skype Insider (@SkypeInsider) September 30, 2020
In addition to Raise hand, Background Blur is another feature that has is available on both Microsoft Teams and Skype. With this latest Insider update (version 8.65.76.73), the feature is now available for Android users after shipping first on Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS.
This new Insider update also makes it possible to customize the reaction picker to pick up any emojis you prefer to use to react to messages. On iOS, Skype Insider has also gained direct Share support so you can easily share URLs, text, and photos with your recent Skype contacts right from the iOS Share menu.
The Skype Insider app for Windows, macOS, and Linux can be downloaded from this page, and an online version is also available here. The Android version can be downloaded from the link below, while the iOS version will require you to install Apple’s Testflight app and to visit this page from your iPhone and iPad.
