What happened to the audio call button in hipchat 4.04?

[J]

There is no apparent way to start an audio chat anymore.  The button is only there for Video chat.  People I call are annoyed that they have to accept as a video then disable the video.

Can you put it back or let me know how I can init an audio chat?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[J]

It seems that cries for help are futile-- I fear nobody from Atlassian is listening.  It is a shame, Hipchat had so much potential.

[AnnWorley]

I am listening from Atlassian. I cannot promise we will include the audio button in the next release, but I wanted to let y'all know we have a ticket open internally that echoes your sentiments. I linked this Community thread to it. The ticket description is: 

Why did you take this out? it's a pain to have to start the video then quickly cancel the video to do an audio call. You should make a preference that allows the user to set video or audio as the default button.

[Craig Stewart]

Is a Voice only button likely to come back? I would move many of my Skype calls to HipChat if it did.

BTW - What was the original idea behind removing it - all calls must be Video push? , Intellectual Property violations?

[Merrill Oates]

Fully agree! Please restore the Audio and Video call options that were in HC v.3.

We run an organization across multiple time-zones so we want people to be able to feel comfortable connecting "from the comfort of their home" (if you know what I mean) and a default Video on is not appropriate for this.

Users who have upgraded from v.3 to v.4 have stopped using HC audio calls because they think the service is not available: no phone handset icon.

Please bring back the handset icon/Audio Only option.

[Mike Britt]

I never used the earlier versions but completely agree that AUDIO chat feature is almost a necessity. We too have groups in different time zones and overseas and our parent blocks video chats as well, but permits audio.

[Jessica Merritt]

I live in the mountains and have to use satelitte internet to work remote from home. Defaulting to video right away usually makes the call fail, or never connect. I'd love it to default to audio first, with the option of turning on your camera. I know my situation is probably unique, but it's be super helpful to at least have a choice. 

[Wesley Gamble]

Yes please bring back the audio chat button!

[J]

We went over to slack for a while, want to come back to HipChat but this feature needs restored or it is a hard sell to my team who might be eating or wearing pajamas when I call them, etc.

[Charlie Carpinteri]

100% agree. It's not alway appropriate to have a video call.

[Alias Collins]

Yes, we could really use an audio call button too.

[Ryan DiRocco]

I second this one... this is super annoying