Calls and meetings

buildIt.social has two kinds of calls. A call rings people: you start it from a direct message, and it rings the other person, or everyone in a group DM. A meeting belongs to a channel: you start it from the channel, nobody’s phone rings, and members drop in when they like. Both have audio, video, screen sharing and remote control, for up to 8 people.

Call someone#

Open a direct message and select Call (the phone icon) at the top of the conversation.

• In a one-to-one DM, the other person’s devices ring. In a group DM, everyone in it rings.
• A call starts with audio only. Turn your camera on at any time during the call.
• While it rings, you see Ringing… with the other person’s picture. Select Cancel to stop.
• If nobody answers within about 45 seconds, the call ends with No answer.
• The conversation keeps a line for each call: Call, Missed call or Declined call.

If someone has paused their notifications, your call doesn’t ring them. In a one-to-one DM the call ends at once, and your screen tells you they have notifications paused, so you can send a message instead.

Join a group call again#

In a group DM, a call goes on as long as someone is in it. If you leave and want to come back, select Call again: you join the call that’s going on, rather than starting a new one.

Answer a call#

On a computer#

An incoming call opens a ringing screen with Answer and Decline, plays a ringtone and shows a notification. The desktop app keeps running in the tray or menu bar after you close its window, so calls still ring.

In a browser#

While buildIt.social is open in a tab, a call rings there. If you’ve allowed notifications, an incoming call also shows a notification that stays until you act on it.

If your browser blocks sound, the call shows Turn on sound. Select it to hear the others.

On a phone#

Calls ring like a phone call, with the system’s own call screen, even when the phone is locked or the app is closed. Answer or decline it there. On an iPhone, the call also appears in the Phone app’s Recents, and tapping it there calls back in buildIt.social.

On several devices#

You can be signed in on your computer and your phone at once. A call rings on all of them, and the one you answer takes it. The others stop ringing and say Answered on another device.

Meetings in a channel#

Every channel has one drop-in meeting. Select Start or join a meeting (the video camera icon) at the top of the channel.

• Starting: you’re the first one in. A meeting card appears in the channel, “{name} started a meeting”, and members whose notification level for the channel is All get a notification.
• Joining: while a meeting is on, the channel shows a Meeting in progress banner with how many people are in it, and the meeting card shows who joined. Select Join on the card or the banner, or the meeting button at the top of the channel.
• Before you join, you see Choose how to join the meeting: pick your microphone and camera, turn either off, then select Join. The camera starts off.
• Ending: a meeting ends when the last person leaves. The card then shows Meeting ended with how long it lasted and how many people took part.

There’s nothing to schedule and no meeting link to send: anyone who can post in the channel can start or join its meeting, guests included.

The meeting chat#

In a meeting, select Chat to open the meeting chat beside the call, or below it on a narrow screen. It’s the meeting card’s thread, so everyone in the channel can read it later. A dot on Chat shows new messages.

Get back to a call#

If you move to another part of the app during a call, the top bar shows a pill with the conversation’s name and Return, which takes you back to the call. On a phone there’s no pill: in the channel, the meeting banner shows Return instead of Join. For a call in a direct message, open the conversation and select Call again: it takes you back to the call that’s going on.

In a call#

The controls are at the bottom of the call screen.

• Mute and Unmute your microphone. On a computer, press Ctrl/Cmd+D.
• Turn camera on and Turn camera off. On a computer, press Ctrl/Cmd+E.
• Share screen: see below.
• Hang up to leave. The call goes on for the others until the last person leaves.

On a computer or in a browser, Audio and video settings lets you switch the microphone, camera and speaker during the call. On a phone, Audio output picks the speaker, the earpiece, headphones or Bluetooth, and Switch camera flips between the front and back cameras.

Each person has a tile. When someone’s connection is poor, their tile shows a warning icon. If your own connection drops, the call says Reconnecting… and tries again by itself.

On a computer, the call has its own window#

In the desktop app on Windows and Mac, every call opens in a separate window, from the first screen of the call. Your main window stays free, so you can open a board, a page or a document there and share it, while the faces, the controls and the meeting chat stay in view in the call’s window.

• Return in the top bar’s pill or the channel’s banner brings the call’s window to the front.
• Closing the call’s window during a call asks Leave the call? Select Leave to hang up, or Cancel to stay.
• When the call ends, its window closes by itself.

In a browser and on phones, the call fills the app’s screen instead.

Share your screen#

Select Share screen in the call. Screen sharing works on a computer, in the app or a browser, and on an iPhone or iPad.

• On a computer: Choose what to share lists your Screens and Windows. Pick one and select Share. When you share a single window, the app draws a thin frame in your organization’s colour around it, so you know which window is shared. Nobody on the call sees the frame.
• In a browser: your browser asks what to share: a screen, a window or a tab. A tab can share its sound too.
• On an iPhone or iPad: the system asks you to confirm before your screen is shared. The share waits for you to start the broadcast in the system’s screen, and Cancel screen sharing stops waiting.

While you share, the call says You’re sharing your screen. Select Stop sharing to end it. The others see {name} stopped sharing.

A share ends by itself when the window you share closes. On Windows it also ends when you minimize or hide that window, and the app tells you why.

Remote control#

During a call, you can ask to use a colleague’s mouse and keyboard on the screen they’re sharing, to help them or show them something. They decide whether to allow it, and for how long.

The person who shares must use the desktop app on Windows or Mac. The person who asks can be on any device: on a phone or tablet, your finger is the pointer, so a tap clicks and a long press right-clicks.

Ask for control#

1. While someone shares their screen, select Request control above their screen.
2. You see Waiting for {name} to allow control… Select Cancel request to stop asking.
3. Once they allow it, you see You’re controlling {name}'s screen, the time left, and Stop control. Send keys sends shortcuts your own computer would keep, such as Alt+Tab.

Everyone else in the call sees who is controlling whose screen.

Allow control#

When someone asks, the call’s window comes to the front with {name} wants to control your screen.

• Allow for sets the time: 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. The default is 15.
• Allow keyboard input is on by default. Turn it off to allow the mouse only.
• The dialog lists what can’t be controlled, such as the lock screen, password fields and apps run as administrator.
• Select Allow or Don’t allow. A request you don’t answer expires after about 2 minutes.

Only one person controls your screen at a time. Allowing someone else ends the first person’s control.

Take back control#

• Move your mouse or press a key to pause control. It goes on when you stop.
• Select Stop on the banner at the top of your screen, in the call, or in the tray menu (Stop remote control).
• Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X on Windows or Ctrl+Option+Cmd+X on a Mac.
• From your phone or another computer, where a red bar says someone is controlling your screen, select Stop.

Control also ends when the time is up, when you stop sharing, or when either of you leaves the call.

Your devices and defaults#

In Settings → Calls & remote control, under Audio and video, you pick the microphone and camera calls use on this device, and the speaker on a computer and in browsers that can choose one. Test shows your camera and a microphone level, and plays a test sound except on phones. Two switches, Join with my microphone off and Join with my camera off, change how your calls start. These settings apply on the device you set them on.

Tips#

• If the call says your camera or microphone can’t be used, allow buildIt.social to use them in your device’s settings, then select Retry.
• Another app using your camera or microphone can stop the call from using it. Close that app, or pick another device in Audio and video settings.
• A call holds up to 8 people. A ninth person sees This call is full.