Microsoft's GroupMe looks to expand into finding groups, voice, and video calls like Telegram, Signal

Microsoft'south GroupMe messaging app, bought past Skype and and so by Microsoft in 2022, has always been an odd duck. The app is surprisingly popular on U.s. college campuses for class projects and it is a fun and funky messenger app.

Only a recent survey of its users suggests the developers backside GroupMe are looking to expand the current private-group-focused service significantly, making it on par with Telegram, Betoken, and the Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp duopoly.

The survey, which was sent out over the last few days, had vii chief questions and ratings for the service's users regarding potential new features:

How practise you apply GroupMe?
Detect groups y'all are interested in
Get notified of groups you lot are interested in
Google Docs integration
Integrate with your main calendar
Create and join video calls
Create and join audio calls

The starting time was a full general question about how people use GroupMe with choices like groups for work, church, gaming, friends, youth (coaching, mentoring), and school projects.

The other six announced to be features that the GroupMe team is thinking of implementing and looking for feedback on priority and interest. Users were asked to respond with such options as 'I similar it,' 'I wait information technology,' 'I dislike it, and I tin't accept information technology.'

Ironically, for an app named GroupMe, there are no public groups that users can search for within the app. Instead, information technology relies on invites or shared links. But full general searching of open groups based on hobbies, sports, politics, religion, and more are an increasingly pop feature found in apps like Telegram, Point, and WhatsApp. Microsoft is also gauging if people want to be notified proactively of groups related to a user'southward activities.

However, adding public groups and searchability would be a large undertaking as information technology would presumably require some content moderation, something other messaging services are contending with.

Google Docs integration makes sense since many Us college students use GroupMe for classes, and so sharing Google Docs would seem like an obvious addition. The same with integrating with a user'due south primary agenda is becoming increasingly popular for scheduling ease.

Perhaps the most curious is bringing voice and video telephone call support to GroupMe. Despite existence under the tutelage of Skype, GroupMe never could integrate with the legacy VOIP service. Last yr, Microsoft finally did add the Skype' group call' characteristic, which creates a link to hand off calls to Skype. Information technology is a elementary kludge, but it sounds like Microsoft may thinking of adding some native VOIP and video support directly.

GroupMe: A boring fire

Microsoft has quite a few messaging services these days, with Skype and Teams being the biggest. However, neither has turned into a consumer-preferred option despite the attempted push at Microsoft Teams for personal use.

Of course, one is correct to criticize Microsoft for being years behind the curve. GroupMe ever had a decent post-obit, just it never received much support from Microsoft, with only a wearisome trickle of new features (and dark way) over the years.

All of that may be changing, still. Recent additions like "Campus Connect" let users find groups based on a higher e-mail address. At that place is also the new 'reply to annotate' feature, which is common among every other messenger platform. When combined with the above survey, it sounds similar Microsoft finally realizes that GroupMe'southward charming UI, emojis, and famous "heart" like feature may accept more potential than it thought.

GroupMe is currently bachelor on iOS, Android, Windows x, Xbox, and the web.

Groupme Reco