List of Features for Webex Meetings 41.7 to 41.10

October 2021 (41.10)

Highlighted features for this update

• Simultaneous Interpretation

  Hosts invite interpreters and assign them to the appropriate language channel as needed. Hosts can create audio channels at the beginning of the meeting.

  Multiple language channels can be created and when participants join, they can select the appropriate audio channel. As soon as they join, they can hear their selected language.

  This solution supports meetings and large events (webinars), multiple interpreters per channel, relay interpretation, and bi-directional interpretation.

  The Manage interpreters feature is currently unavailable and will come in a later update.

  Simultaneous Interpretation is available in Webex Meeting desktop app, Webex Events (new), Web app, and Mobile.

  For more information, see

  • Simultaneous interpretation in Webex meetings and webinars

  • Configure simultaneous interpretation for your organization in Control Hub

  • Preassign interpreters to Webex meetings and webinars

  • Create language channels and assign interpreters in Webex Meetings

  • Select your preferred language audio channel in Webex Meetings and webinars

  • Hand off interpreting to the next interpreter in Webex meetings and webinars

  • Change the interpretation direction in Webex meetings and webinars

  • Set the audio source for interpretation in Webex meetings and webinars

  

  iOS

  

  Android

  

  For more information, see Simultaneous interpretation in Webex meetings and webinars

• Support available for Apple iOS 15 and new iPhone devices

  Webex meetings are supported on new Apple iPhones. Users have a seamless meetings experience when they upgrade their devices to the latest.

  Webex Meetings will be supported on Apple iOS 15.

• Webcast attendee view customization

  The Webex event host can customize the look and feel of the attendee view in a webcast. They can also customize the logo, theme, and color of accent view.

  For more information, see Customize what attendees see when they join a webinar and Customize what attendees see in your webcasts.

  

• Accessibility settings: Manage screen reader notifications and chat font size

  In this update, we've added a new item under the Help > Accessibility Settings Here, a user can:

  • Manage their screen reader notifications announcements—For users who use assistive screen reader applications (like JAWS and VoiceOver), it may become overwhelming if the screen reader is announcing every single notification in a meeting. For example, if people are constantly coming in and out of the meeting, this may distract from being able to hear the conversation in the meeting. Now, users can manage which notifications they would like their screenreader to announce.

  • Adjust the font size in the Chat panel—You can now increase the size of the font in the Chat panel, directly from the meeting. Particularly useful if you don’t want to adjust your font or display settings at the system level.

  For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

  

Pre-Meeting experience

Stream your Webex Meetings or Webex Events to Vbrick available for Webex for Government

As a host, you can stream your Webex meetings or events to Vbrick Rev. This allows you to connect with your audiences by easily sharing your video and content with Webex controls.

For more information, see Stream Your Cisco Webex Meetings or Events to Vbrick.

In-Meeting experience

Simultaneous Interpretation

Hosts invite interpreters and assign them to the appropriate language channel as needed. Hosts can create audio channels at the beginning of the meeting.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Layout menu: Optimized look and feel

We've optimized the look and feel of the Layout menu, making it easy to find the settings you're looking for.

For more information, see

• Show or hide names in thumbnail videos in Webex Meetings and Webex Events

• Hide or show non-video participants during Webex Meetings and Webex Events

• Switch your view in Webex Meetings and Webex Events

Display attendees' names for reactions

The host can specify whether attendees' names are shown in reactions displayed in Webex Events (new) and Webex Meetings.

For more information, see Use reactions in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new).

Webcast attendee view customization

The Webex event host can customize the look and feel of the attendee view in a webcast. They can also customize the logo, theme, and color of accent view.

For more information, see Customize what attendees see in your webcasts.

Support for new languages

In this update, we’re introducing support for four additional languages in Webex Meetings, Webex Events (new), Web app, Mobile app, and Audio Experience: Norwegian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian. All audio prompts selections are played in the selected language to the audio users.

Accessibility Settings: Manage screen reader notifications and chat font size

In this update, we've added a new item under the Help > Accessibility Settings.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Unified meeting preferences

We've made it easier to keep your meeting settings organized by unifying them into a single Preferences interface. This also aligns with the preferences you can find outside of the meeting in the Webex app.

There's no change to the settings themselves (same capabilities you know and love), however, starting in this update, you’ll notice accessing any of the following will now open the unified dialog:

• Audio Options

• Video Options

• “Notification” Preferences

• Keyboard Shortcuts

• Accessibility Settings

For more information, see

• Select audio settings for Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new)

• Select video settings for Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new)

• Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features

Post-Meeting experience

Host report for webcasts

The host can now see the same attendee report in a Webex Events (new) webcast as in a webinar. After the webcast ends, Webex generates a report, and the host can find them in the Completed Meetings tab.

For more information, see Generate host reports for Webex Events (new).

Attendance and registration reports

As a host you have access to meetings and events attendance and registration reports in one place to better understand a meeting or event’s turnout. In the Registration report view, you can look up someone’s registration. You can choose to view individual registration by clicking on the registrant’s name and export reports to a CSV formatted file that is available for both reports.

For more information, see Generate attendance and registration reports for Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Media enhancements

Edge callback GDM

In the continuous effort of improving our customers' meeting experience, we’ve enabled a new Edge Audio feature Callback GDM (Global Distributed Media) for all Webex Edge Audio customers. Your branch offices across the globe will now receive Edge callback from your closest Cisco Data Center, and we’ll carry your cross continent on-net traffic through Cisco Network Backbone instead of the Internet—thus improving voice quality and stability.

For example, you have a Webex site in the United States that has a branch office in Japan. Earlier users from the Japan office would receive an Edge callback from the United States Data Center through the Internet. When the Japanese user speaks, their audio is transferred to United States for audio mixing, and again through the Internet. Once this feature is enabled, the user receives the Edge callback from our Asia-Pacific Data Center - which is much closer. Moreover, their audio pockets will only need to reach Cisco Asia-Pacific Data Center through Internet, and then the majority of cross continent distance between Asia-Pacific Data Center and United States Data Center is be covered through Cisco’s Network Backbone.

Device enhancements

Webex devices in breakout sessions

In the 41.9 update, we announced limited availability, now in 41.10 Breakout session support for Webex Devices is generally available to all customers.

Hosts can move devices to a breakout session to have a more inclusive experience with other users. Users on devices will see appropriate prompts as they get assigned and moved to breakout sessions.

Requirements

Webex Devices with Room OS 10 software.

Known Limitations:

1. Support for breakout sessions is only available on Webex Cloud Connected Devices and Webex Edge Devices configured for Webex Optimized Join mode.

2. Older devices such as DX, SX, and MX series can't be moved into a breakout session and stays in the main session.

3. Pre-assignment of video devices to breakout sessions isn't available in this update. Users on devices have to be manually assigned to their intended breakout sessions.

4. Users on devices won’t be able to choose the breakout session they want to join, when sessions are setup to let participants choose any session.

5. When a user on a Meetings app is in a breakout session and they try to pair with a device that is already in a breakout session, they will be greeted with a device busy message.

6. Users on a device aren't able to ask for help when in a breakout session.

7. Broadcast messages sent by the host aren't visible on devices.

SIP user to see a warning message if they screen share in a restricted meeting

If the host has restricted sharing in a meeting, SIP users will see a message explaining why their sharing attempt failed.

For more information, see Webex Devices | Breakout Sessions

Webex Meetings for iOS and Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Events- Panelist and Attendee Chat Enhancements

In Android and iOS, attendees can chat with individual panelists, all panelists, and everyone in Webex Events (new).​ Panelists can chat with all panelists and everyone in an event.

For more information, see Roles in Webex Events (new).

Support for 1080P Video​ in a Meeting

iOS and Android apps support receiving 1080p video in a meeting.

Webex Meetings for iOS

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Support available for new iPhone models

Webex meetings are supported on new Apple iPhones. Users will have a seamless meetings experience when they upgrade their devices to the latest.

Support available for Apple iOS 15

Webex Meetings will be supported on Apple iOS 15.

Administration Experience

End of support for Office 2010 file sharing

Microsoft discontinued support for Microsoft Office 2010 on October 13, 2020. Starting in 41.10, we can no longer provide support for file sharing in Webex for this version of Office. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Office or using screen sharing or application sharing.

End of life announcement for join by meeting number using prefix and suffix

Users are longer able to dial into meetings by using a prefix and suffix after October 11, 2021. It will be removed from Meeting settings in Control Hub.

This feature was used widely by customers joining meetings on devices. As there is an existing method to join meetings using the Join button, join by meeting number using prefix and suffix is no longer required.

Webex Meetings APIs

Webex Meetings API support for Webex Events (New)

Developers can now schedule events using the meetings API. The API supports standard CRUD operations in line with the current meetings API video devices. We'll be releasing more API features to support Webex Events (new), so stay tuned to learn more in the coming months.

September 2021 (41.9.1)

Optimize Your Voice

You can filter out background voices and noises that would normally be picked up by your mic from your voice to create a better and more engaging experience during your meetings and events.

For more information, see Optimize Your Meetings and Events for Your Voice

September 2021 (41.9)

Highlighted features for this update

• Immersive sharing

  Desktop

  Create a more personal and engaging experience as you present by immersing your video directly into you shared screen or application. In the Share Content menu, there’s a new option: Show me in front of presentation. Select the check box and your video is embedded into what you’re sharing.

  By default, your video is shown in the lower right, but you have full control to resize and position your video anywhere you want during your presentation.

  For more information, see Show your video over shared content in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

  

  Mobile

  Immersive Sharing as an Attendee

  iOS and Android app users can view immersive share as an attendee. Currently, mobile app users can’t choose immersive share when presenting.

  For more information, see Show your video over shared content in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

  

  

• Slido Integration in Webinar Webex Events (New)

  Desktop

  In this update, Slido is now available in Webex Events (new) and supports 5k and below. Slido is only available in the webinar mode and not for webcast.

  For more information, see

  • Slido is now enabled for your organization

  • What are the minimum requirements for Slido in Cisco Webex Meetings?

  • Polls in Slido

  • Q&A in Slido

  This feature isn’t available for Webex for Government.

  Mobile

  iOS and Android apps now support Slido:

  • When an event host or cohost starts a poll or Q&A through Slido, then it appears for mobile participants.

  • Mobile participants can respond to the poll.

  • Mobile participants' responses are saved in Slido's back-end.

  • Toggle in Webex Control Hub to turn on or turn off the feature.

  Limitation

  Mobile users can’t start a poll or Q&A through Slido.

• Video layout improvement for tablet and iPad

  iPad Pro and higher end Android tablets can now enjoy enhanced video stage layouts during their meetings. Currently, the stage view only supports four to five videos. With this update, users can view eight to nine videos depending on the stage layout:

  • Nine videos in stage view when content is shared.

    

  • Eight videos in stage view when content isn’t shared.

    

    For more information, see Show your video over shared content in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Webex Events (new)

Slido integration in webinar for Webex Events (new)

In this update, Slido is now available in Webex Events (new) and supports 5k and below. Slido is only available in the webinar mode and not for webcast.

Updated layout for Webex Events (New)

In this update, we’ve refined the layout of the meeting information for upcoming events.

For more information, see Assign privileges in Webex Events (new).

Participant management enhancements in Webex Events (New)

Participant management enhancements will now allow hosts to manage attendees' privileges and allow attendee to chat with Special Panelist and everyone.

For more information, see Assign privileges in Webex Events (new).

Add Webex Events to Microsoft 365 and Google Calendar

The host and invitees can now download the ics information of the event from the events detail window. The invitees can also add the event to their Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 Calendar from the invitation emails.

For more information, see Schedule webinars and webcasts with Webex Events (new).

Pre-Meeting experience

Support for MacOS 12 Monterey (Beta Version)

As part of our readiness for the upcoming MacOS 12 Monterey update, Webex Meetings is now supported on the MacOS 12 (beta version), for those customers who would like to begin their testing early.

For more information, see Webex Meetings Suite system requirements.

In-Meeting experience

Immersive sharing

Create a more personal and engaging experience as you present by immersing your video directly into you shared screen or application. In the Share Content menu, there's a new option: Show me in front of shared content. Select the check box and your video is embedded into what you’re sharing.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Improved leave flow to prevent cohosts from ending the meeting accidentally

We've improved the flow when cohosts leave a meeting to reduce instances of them ending the meeting by mistake. Now, if a cohost chooses End meeting for all from the leave menu when a host is still actively in the meeting, they will be given a prompt warning them that the host is still in the meeting, asking them to confirm if they really want to end the meeting for everyone, or cancel and leave the meeting instead. This secondary confirmation dialog is supported for Webex Meetings, Webex Events (new and classic).

For more information, see Host a Webex meeting or event - quick reference tasks.

Additional Windows keyboard shortcuts

We've added some additional keyboard shortcuts on Windows to be consistent with the shortcuts available on Mac. Additionally, the keyboard shortcuts are also workable in the preview window including Mute, turn on, and turn off video.

• Ctrl + Shift + E—Expel attendee

• Ctrl + 0—Fit shared content to viewer

• Ctrl + N—Lock or unlock the meeting

• Ctrl + Shift + Y—Sync the display of a page, slide, or whiteboard so everyone sees the same view

• Ctrl + Shift + F—Set the whiteboard font size

• Ctrl + T—Show or hide the thumbnail sidebar

• Ctrl + Shift + I—Show or hide the names in video

• Ctrl + B—Share a web browser

• Ctrl + Shift + N—Add a whiteboard page

• Ctrl + Shift + O—Clear my pointer

• Ctrl +Shift + Del—Clear all pointers

• Ctrl + Del—Clear all annotations on the whiteboard

• Ctrl +N—Lock or unlock the meeting (should change to Ctrl+ R - Lock or unlock the meeting)

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Tooltips now include keyboard shortcuts

The tooltips you see when you hover over actions include the keyboard shortcut, if applicable. This improves discoverability and makes finding shortcuts more intuitive.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Use the Tab key to navigate anywhere in the meeting window (Mac)

Like in Windows, you can now use the standard Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate through the entire meeting window, including any open panels on Mac.

You can still use F6 as a quick shortcut to switch between the panels area and the main window. CTRL+Tab can still be used as a quick shortcut to move between multiple panels that you have open.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Raise hand in breakout sessions

You can now raise and lower your hand in a breakout session, just like in the main session. Similarly, hosts and cohosts in the breakout session can lower other participants' hands.

For more information, see Raise your hand in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new).

Media enhancements

Webex Video Mesh private meetings

The Private Meeting feature enhances the security of your meeting by terminating the media on your premises. When you schedule a private meeting, the media always terminates on the Video Mesh nodes inside your corporate network with no cloud cascade. Unlike normal meetings, if the local nodes are full, the media doesn’t cascade to the Cisco Webex cloud.

All participants in a private meeting must belong to your organization. They can join using the Webex App or an authenticated video system. Participants with VPN or MRA access to your network can join a private meeting. But nobody can join a private meeting from outside your network.

See the Private Meetings section in the deployment guide and the Schedule a Webex Private Meeting article. For more information, see Cisco Webex Video Mesh Release Notes.

Video Mesh GDM

Video Mesh uses the globally distributed media (GDM) capabilities of Webex to achieve better media routing. To achieve optimal connectivity, Webex selects the nearest cloud media node to your enterprise when performing Video Mesh cascades to Webex. Traffic then passes through the Webex backbone to interact with the Webex microservices for the meeting. This routing minimizes latency and keeps most of the traffic on the Webex backbone and off the internet.

For more information, see the Prepare Your Environment section in the deployment guide.

Device enhancements

Webex devices in breakout sessions

We’re announcing Limited Availability of breakout session support for Webex Devices. Hosts can now move devices to a breakout session to have a more inclusive experience with other users. Users on devices see appropriate prompts as they get assigned and moved to breakout sessions.

Limited Availability:

This feature is ready for trials through the Webex Beta program and available to all users on our Limited Availability cluster.

Known Limitations:

1. Support for breakout sessions is only available on Webex Cloud Connected Devices and Webex Edge Devices configured for Webex Optimized Join mode.

2. Pre-assignment to breakout sessions for personal mode devices isn’t supported and will be available in a future update.

Administrator controls for video device layouts BETA

When joining meetings on your video devices you’ll now enjoy the default video layout you set in your meetings configuration.

Prior to this update, the layout choice was only available to Webex Meetings app. With this update, video devices that are connected on-premiss start observing the layout choice that you configure.

Users can continue to change their layouts in the meeting using the layout controls provided on the video devices.

Webex Meetings for iOS and Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Video layout improvement for tablet and iPad

iPad Pro and higher end Android tablets can now enjoy enhanced video stage layouts during their meetings.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Support for Slido

iOS and Android apps now support Slido.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Immersive sharing as an attendee

iOS and Android app users can view immersive share as an attendee. Currently, mobile app users can’t choose immersive share when presenting.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Support Raise Hand in meetings breakout sessions

Like the desktop app, iOS and Android apps now support Raise hand and Lower hand in breakout sessions.

• Hosts and cohosts can lower all participants' hands in the same breakout session.

• All participants can raise and lower their own hands in the breakout session.

For more information, see Raise your hand in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new).

Prevent cohosts from accidentally ending meetings

Like the desktop app, iOS and Android apps have implemented user experience improvements to prevent instances of ending the meeting by mistake.

For more information, see Interact during Webex meetings from a mobile device.

Webex Meetings for iOS

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Support for iOS 15

As part of our readiness for the upcoming iOS 15 update, Webex Meetings is now supported on the iOS 15 (beta version), for those customers who would like to begin their testing early.

Webex Meetings for Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Support for Android 12

As part of our readiness for the upcoming Android 12 update, Webex Meetings is now supported on the Android 12 (beta version), for those customers who would like to begin their testing early.

Administration experience

Collaboration restrictions for company users joining external meetings

Site administrators, you can now restrict your company users to use certain in-meeting features, that go against your company policies when joining meetings outside of your organization. These features are made read only or blocked for your users:

• File transfer

• Screen share

• Annotation

• Chat

• Q&A and Polling

• You can add your own approved site list to exclude these restrictions. We’ve provided you with a simple toggle in Control Hub to control these features for all users in your organization.

  This setting is only applicable to users using your company's claimed domain email address to join meetings.

  Along with this functionality, site administrators can also control in-meeting experience for any user (including guests) who are using your company laptop (Windows and Mac) and mobile device (iOS and Android) to join external Webex meetings.

  As a site administrator, you can configure your laptops and mobile devices using registry keys in a way that restricts any user joining meetings using this laptop to adhere to the collaboration restrictions. Simply use registry keys to mass configure and manage your company laptops and mobile devices and use your company's Org ID as a token in the registry key. There’s appropriate indication in the meetings to let users know that they are restrictions to use certain features due to their company enforced policy restrictions.

Webex Meetings Integrations

Microsoft Teams Integration: Starting and scheduling meetings from message extension

Using the Webex Message Extension, Microsoft Teams users can now Start an instant meeting and Schedule a meeting.

Webex Meetings APIs

Meetings RESTful API to support automatic lock setting in create, update, and delete meeting

Webex Meetings now has a setting that allows developers to specify if they want to automatically lock the meeting after it starts. They can also specify the number of minutes after the meeting starts, for the meeting to get locked automatically.

Webex for Government Parity Updates

These features are now available in Webex for Government.

Events to Support up to 5K Users

Webex Events (new) supports up to 5,000 attendees, dependent on the event's capacity.

August 2021 (41.8)

Highlighted features for this update

• Build your own brand and customization in Webex Events (New)

  As a host, you have the option of branding and customizing the attendee Welcome page and Registration page in Webex Events (new).

  For a webinar or webcast, as a host you can customize the attendee landing page and registration page. You can customize the color theme, upload a logo, background, or update the speakers profile with the branding tool.

  

  This tool lets you immediately preview the result on a desktop as on a mobile.

  Branding is available for webinars that require registration.

  For more information, see Customize what attendees see when they join a webinar and Customize your registration page in Webex Events (new).

• Increased number of videos that can be moved to stage

  You can now move up to eight additional videos onto the stage (where previous, limit was four). This gives you the ability to keep even more people front and center in your view.

  

  Known Limitations:

  • Web app: Limited to six simultaneous video streams at a time, which means if eight people are on stage, two of them display the profile picture.

  • VDI app: Can show up to eight videos (plus the active speaker) on stage, however the filmstrip is limited to two videos.

  For more information, see Move participants to the stage in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

• Pop panels directly from the meeting window

  We've made managing panels in the meeting experience even easier! You can now pop out any of the panels directly from the meeting window, without having to go into full-screen view. This makes it easy to float multiple panels, scale them for a closer look, or even move them to another monitor.

  Simply click on the pop out icon to float the panel in its own window. Once floating, you can pop panel back into the meeting window at any time, and it snaps right back into place. If you close the panel floating panel, you're able to reopen it from the meeting window. You can even use the panel buttons in the meeting window to close any floating panels.

  For more information, see Pop panels in and out in Webex Meetings.

  

• Collaboration restrictions for company users joining external meetings

  Site administrators, you can now restrict your company users to use certain in-meeting features, that go against your company policies when joining meetings outside of your organization. These features are made read only or blocked for your users: File transfer, Screen share, Annotation, Chat, and Q&A and Polling. You can add your own approved site list to exclude these restrictions. We’ve provided you with a simple toggle in Control Hub to control these features for all users in your organization. This setting is only applicable to users using your company's claimed domain email address to join meetings. Along with this functionality, site administrators can also control in-meeting experience for any user (including guests) who are using your company laptop (Windows and Mac) and mobile device (iOS and Android) to join external Webex meetings. As a site administrator, you can configure your laptops and mobile devices using registry keys in a way that restricts any user joining meetings using this laptop to adhere to the collaboration restrictions. Simply use registry keys to mass configure and manage your company laptops and mobile devices and use your company's Org ID as a token in the registry key. There are appropriate indication in the meetings to let users know that they are restrictions to use certain features due to their company enforced policy restrictions.

Webex Events (new)

Chat with everyone in your Webex webinar

The Chat with everyone option is available in a Webex Events (new) webinar. Hosts, cohosts, panelists, and attendees can view all messages sent to everyone in a webinar. You can disable chat entirely when you schedule an event.

For more information, see

• Known issues and limitations of Webex Events (new)

• Host a Webex meeting or event - quick reference tasks

Scheduling template available for Webex Events (new)

When scheduling an event as a host, you can choose to save the configuration to a template so that you can reuse it when scheduling future events. The site administratorcan also choose to save a template as a standard template for all users on the site.

You can manage your templates in Preferences > Scheduling > Events templates.

As a site administrator, you can manage all standard templates and make any user- created template visible or invisible to everyone for the site in Site Administration > Configurations > Webex Meetings or Control Hub > Configure site > Webex Meetings > Site Options.

For more information, see

• Schedule webinars and webcasts with Webex Events (new)

• Use a template in Webex Meetings or Webex Events (new)

• Manage Webex Meetings and Events (new) templates in Cisco Webex Control Hub

• Manage Webex Meetings and Events (new) templates in Webex Site Administration

Build your own brand and customization in Webex Events (New)

As a host, you have the option of branding and customizing the attendee Welcome page and Registration page in Webex Events (new).

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Past events report in Webex Control Hub

As an administrator of a site managed by Control Hub, you can export past Webex Events (new) reports in Control Hub > Reports. You have the option to export only the events filtered by date range.

Pre-Meeting experience

Adjust camera brightness

Under the camera settings, there’s a new option to adjust the camera brightness. Enable this feature by checking the box to automatically adjust the camera brightness. This can help with low light or other challenging lighting environments. You can also select Manual in the drop-down menu to enable this feature. This enables a slider control, allowing you to manually adjust the camera brightness level to the desired level.

For more information, see Select advanced video settings for Webex Meetings.

Hardware acceleration for video on Mac OS

In the Advanced video settings, there’s a new option to Allow hardware acceleration. This setting is on by default and will use available hardware acceleration for video if available. Requires Mac OS. Disabling this setting forces the use of software-based processing and may have a negative impact on CPU utilization and battery life.

For more information, see Select advanced video settings for Webex Meetings.

Webex supports E.164 phone numbers

Webex now supports the E.164 international phone number format. For more information, see the Administration Experience section for this update.

Webex scheduled meetings by PSTN host and disable lobby for PSTN host

This feature allows hosts using phone-only to start a Webex scheduled meeting. This capability already exists for Personal Room meetings.

If the site administrator has enabled the following option for Webex scheduled meetings (enabled by default), then the host needs to call from a saved phone number.

Additionally, the host needs their host PIN to be able to start the meeting.

When the host is on phone-only for either Personal Room or Webex scheduled meetings, if the security setting is such that guests can’t get into the meeting directly, then today they are left in the lobby without the ability for phone host to let them in. For a better user experience, the site administrator can now choose if they want to enable the Guests can join without waiting in the lobby when the host starts an unlocked meeting from a phone option to let guests into the meeting directly only when host is on phone. If host is on the app, the guests are still placed in a lobby and the host can view and manage the lobby to let selected attendees in.

The option can be managed individually for Personal Room and Webex scheduled meetings. By default, this option is disabled and the site administrator can choose to enable it.

For more information, see Start a scheduled Webex Meeting by phone and Configure settings for meetings started by phone.

Start or join a Webex scheduled meeting as a host using your saved phone number

In the 41.8 update, we’ve added the capability for phone only users to be able to start a Webex scheduled meeting from their phone. Users who want to start a Webex scheduled meeting from the phone needs to validate their phone number along with the Host PIN. Save a phone number in Preferences > Audio and Video > My phone numbers to be able to start or join a meeting as a host by phone.

For more information, see Set your Webex Meetings audio and video preferences.

In-Meeting experience

Increased number of videos that can be moved to stage

You can now move up to eight more videos onto the stage (where previous, limit was four). This gives you the ability to keep even more people front and center in your view.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Optimized spacing between videos and shared content

We've made some small adjustments to the layout when content is shared to minimize wasted space in between content and video.

For more information, see Move participants to the stage in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Improved active speaker switching

We've improved the video response time of the active speaker window on the stage, or when grid view is zoomed in all the way. The active speaker window switches between participant videos more seamlessly as different people in the meeting speak.

For more information, see Move participants to the stage in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Pop panels directly from the meeting window

We've made managing panels in the meeting experience even easier! You can now pop out any of the panels directly from the meeting window, without having to go into full-screen view. This makes it easy to float multiple panels, scale them for a closer look, or even move them to another monitor.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Keyboard shortcut optimizations

We've updated the categorization of the keyboard shortcuts, making it easier to find the shortcuts you're looking for in the Keyboard Shortcuts window.

We've updated some of the keyboard shortcuts to be more consistent with the Webex app. Note the following changes:

• On Windows, the shortcut for open shortcut preferences is changing from Ctrl + E to Ctrl + /.

  On Mac, the shortcut for open shortcut preferences is changing from Control + E to Control + /.

Lastly, we've added some new keyboard shortcuts, making it even easier to quickly access key features:

Windows:

• Ctrl + Shift + A—Turn closed captions on or off.

• Ctrl + Shift + G—Admit participants from lobby.

• Ctrl + Shift + U—Mute all participants.

• Ctrl + Shift + X—Show or hide participants videos.

• Ctrl + Shift + Z—Stop sharing.

Mac:

• Control + shift +v—Start or stop your video.

• Control + shift + r—Raise or lower your hand.

• Command + shift + x—Show or hide participant videos.

• Control + / ——Open Shortcut Preferences (changed shortcut in 41.8)

• Control + shift + L—Lower all participants' hands (new added in 41.8)

• Control + shift + g—Admit participants from lobby.

• Control + shift + a—Turn closed caption on or off.

• Control + shift + z—Stop sharing.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Web app: Q&A set priority, mark as answered verbally

Like in the desktop app, as a meeting host, cohost, or event panelist, when you join from the web app, you can now do the following:

• See and set the priority of a question.

• Mark a question as Answered Verbally.

For more information, see Question and answer (Q&A) sessions in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new).

Web App: Q&A Tab Management

Like the desktop app, as a meeting host, cohost, or event panelist, when you join from the web app, you can now use the following tabs in the Q&A panel to filter or manage Q&A:

• All

• Answered

• Unanswered

• My Q&A

For more information, see Question and answer (Q&A) sessions in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new).

Administration experience

Collaboration restrictions for company users joining external meetings

Site administrators, you can now restrict your company users to use certain in-meeting features, that go against your company policies when joining meetings outside of your organization.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Print friendly format to view usage report

We’ve brought back the function of Print Friendly format for the usage report. The administrators can review all items on the same page and can then decide if they need to print out the reports or not.

Display the attendee's actual phone number on the report

With this update, you can see the attendee's actual phone numbers in the report. Previously, the report may have included a phone number that wasn’t used in the meeting. As the result, the hosts and administrators couldn’t contact those attendees.

Webex supports E.164 phone numbers

Webex supports the E.164 number format and we recommend that you use this format for user management and CSV imports and exports. We’ve added the option Support E.164-format phone numbers in reports (enabled by default) to the Batch Import/Export Users page.

Webex Meetings VDI

Breakout Session Support

Similar to Webex Meetings desktop app, Breakout sessions is now available for VDI.

For more information, see Release Notes for Cisco Webex Meetings Virtual Desktop Software (41.x).

Webex Meetings Integrations

Meetings API support for Webex Events (new)

As a developer, you can now schedule events using the Webex Meetings API. The API supports standard CRUD operations in line with the current meetings API endpoint. We're releasing more API features to support the Webex Events (new), so stay tuned here to learn more in the coming months.

Zendesk Integration

Zendesk agents can create a Webex Space associated with an incident ticket and communicate or chat with various collaborators of the ticket using the space.

For more information, see Webex for Zendesk.

Jira Service Desk Integration

Jira Service Desk agents can create a Webex Space associated with an issue ticket and communicate or chat with various collaborators of the ticket using the space.

For more information, see Webex for Jira.

Name look-up for adding co-workers to a Webex Meeting or Webex Space from Box

We're making it easier to invite your co-workers using the Share in Webex app for Box. With this enhancement, you can easily add co-workers to a Webex meeting or space by typing their names. As you start typing, matching names display and you can select from the list.

You'll be able to identify which co-workers are already collaborators on the Box file. You'll also receive alerts of people who're invited but don't have file access. You can opt to provision their access seamlessly as part of setting up a Webex meeting or space.

Webex Meetings for iOS and Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Full mobile support for Webex Outlook add-in

Full mobile support is now added for the Webex Outlook Add-in. Users can now schedule Webex meetings directly from either the iOS or Android Outlook mobile apps.

Webex Meetings for iOS

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Side-by-side mode for dual camera support

Users can share live content through the back camera of their device while remaining a video participant through the front camera of their device. When users use Side-by-Side mode for dual camera, their front and back camera video is combined to one video side by side. The other meeting participants see the participant video that placed the user’s front video and back video side by side at the same time.

For more information, see Show the front and back camera of your mobile device in Webex Meetings.

Keyboard shortcut optimizations

iPad users now have access to the following core meeting functionality from a Bluetooth keyboard:

• Space—Mute or UnMute

• Shift + V—Start or Stop your video

• Command + D—Share content

• Command + P—Stop sharing

Press Command during the meeting to see the list of keyboard shortcuts.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Webex Meetings for Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Enhanced Recording Management

Based on-site administrator settings, Android users can now rename and delete recordings.

Resize Stage Video and Content Sharing

Android tablet users in 41.5 could drag the video ports to stage. Now they can resize the video stage and content sharing by dragging the divider horizontally.

July 2021 (41.7.2)

Webex Assistant Available to all Paid Plans

Webex Assistant will be available as part of paid plans, with no license required. The IT administrator must turn on the Enable Webex Assistant setting in Control Hub. New and existing Webex Assistant customers may need to check their Webex Assistant admin settings and turn it on again (since there's a one-time change for the default value to be off)

Learn more about Webex Assistant at Use Webex Assistant in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (New) and Cisco Webex Assistant for Webex Meetings At-a-Glance.

July 2021 (41.7)

Highlighted features for this update

• Closed Captions available to all paid plans

  Previously, closed captions were only available if you had Webex Assistant. Now, all new meetings and events participants (paid meeting users) will automatically have closed captions and can turn them on in one click. The host doesn’t need to turn on anything for attendees to have it.

  In this update, only Webex Meetings and Webex Events (new) are supported. Support for Webex Events (classic) will be available in a future update.

  It was initially communicated that Support for Webex Events (classic) will be available in a future update. However, there’s no plan to support Webex Assistant and Auto Closed Captioning in Webex Events (classic).

  If the host is a paid user, then free guest users who join this meeting and can have closed captions.

  A captions panel is available when the closed captions feature is turned on. Currently, closed captions will only show English transcription. If a user has the real-time translation add-on, then the English transcription can be translated to 100+ languages. For more information, see the Show or Hide Closed Captions During a Webex Meeting or Event.

  To enable Webex Assistant in Site Administration and Control Hub, see Enable Webex Assistant for Meetings in Webex Site Administration and Enable Webex Assistant for Meetings in Control Hub.

  

  Turn on or off the audio announcement for Webex Assistant

  As an administrator, you can now turn on or off the audio announcement for Webex Assistant for all site users. The audio announcement currently states Webex Assistant is enabled to save audio highlights.

  To turn on or off the audio announcement for Webex Assistant in Site Administration and Control Hub, see Enable Webex Assistant for Meetings in Webex Site Administration and Enable Webex Assistant for Meetings in Control Hub.

• Layout optimization features

  • See more videos in the filmstrip

    You can now see more videos when scaling the filmstrip. This helps you keep an eye on more people, even when content is shared or if you’re in one of the stage views.

    For more information, see Adjust how many participants appear in the stage views in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

    

  • Move a user from the participant panel to the stage.

    You can now move a user to the stage from the Participants panel. To do this, right- click on the user you want to move to stage and choose Move to stage.

    For more information, see Adjust how many participants appear in the stage views in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

    

• Interact with audience when streaming live in Workplace from Facebook

  After starting the live stream to Workplace from Facebook, the host can view and reply to comments, as well as see the number of views and likes from the livestream viewers in the Workplace from Facebook panel.

  This feature requires Live Streaming to be enabled for the host account. The administrator must also enable the Workplace from Facebook option under Common SiteSettings > Options > Live Streaming Services in Site Administration or Common Settings > Site Options in Control Hub.

  For more information, see Stream Your Webex Meetings or Events on Workplace from Facebook.

• Zero trust security for Webex Meetings and Webex room devices

  Superior meeting security is now available using End-to-End (E2EE) Encryption for meetings, including:

  • Modern, standards-based cryptography with strong identity verification

  • Use Webex room devices (Room Series, DeskPro, and Board)

  • Verbal verification of meeting attendees using a new Security Verification Code

  • Encryption Key exchange over Message Layer Security (MLS) standard, which uses a non-portable Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Public-Private Certificate for each user and device

  • Media payload encryption using the new SFrame standard

  The security icon lets all users know at a glance, that they are meeting securely with nobody else able to connect. The icon will also tell you when end-to-end encryption is enabled for the meeting.

  For more information, see

  • End-to-end encryption with identity verification for Webex meetings

  • Schedule a Webex Meeting with end-to-end encryption

  • Join a Webex Meeting with end-to-end encryption

Pre-Meeting experience

Increase the meeting number size to 11 digits

With a tremendous increase in meeting traffic, Cisco Webex is quickly running short of meeting numbers. To address this challenge, Webex Meetings, Webex Events (classic and new), Webex Training, and Webex Support sessions meeting numbers will be increased to 11-digits.

We’ll ensure that desktop apps, mobile apps, web app, video devices, our APIs, and our out-of-the-box integrations with Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and others are fully compatible with the meeting number increase. If you’re using Webex APIs with your applications, we request that you test and ensure that your applications are working with this change.

This change to 11-digit meeting numbers is scheduled to begin in July 2021. You can find the date for your site based on its cluster at status.webex.com/maintenance.

For more information, see Meeting number size increase.

In-Meeting experience

First participant brought to the stage view and synced is available in recordings

Recordings will now always show the first participant video that was brought to the stage by host or cohost and synced across all the attendees in the meeting. This is bringing back the behavior of locking the video of a participant for everyone in the meeting and then recording.

For more information, see Select who you want to focus on in the main window in Webex Meetings and Webex Events (classic).

See more videos in the filmstrip

You can now see more videos when scaling the filmstrip. This helps you keep an eye on more people, even when content is shared or if you’re in one of the stage views.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Move a user from the participant panel to the stage

You can now move a user to the stage from the Participants panel. To do this, right- click on the user you want to move to stage and choose Move to stage.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Interact with audience when streaming live in Workplace from Facebook

After starting the live stream to Workplace from Facebook, the host can view and reply to comments, as well as see the number of views and likes from the livestream viewers in the Workplace from Facebook panel.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Closed Captions available to all paid plans

Previously, closed captions were only available if you had Webex Assistant. Now, all new meetings and events participants (paid meeting users) will automatically have closed captions and can turn them on in one click. The host doesn’t need to turn on anything for attendees to have it.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Web app: full-screen view

Similar to the desktop app, the Web app now includes full-screen view, allowing you to maximize the view of the stage within your browser.

For more information, see Switch your view in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Use the Tab key to navigate anywhere in the meeting window (Windows)

You can now use the standard Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate through the entire window, as long as the panel is visible (or opened).

You can still use F6 as a quick shortcut to switch between the panels area and the main window, CTRL+Tab can still be used as a quick shortcut to move between multiple panels that you have open.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Keyboard shortcut management (Mac)

On Mac, you can now access and manage keyboard shortcuts directly from the Help menu in the desktop app meeting window. This feature was already released on Windows.

• Here, you can manage the Global Shortcut setting to determine if you’d like to be able to use the shortcut even when the Webex Meetings desktop app isn’t in focus.

• You also have the option to customize the shortcut and redefine it to the key combination of your choosing.

These settings are useful if you find the keyboard shortcuts conflicting with other applications.

For more information, see Webex Meetings and Webex Events accessibility features.

Security enhancements

Superior meeting security is now available using End-to-End (E2EE) Encryption for meetings.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Administration experience

Turn off the audio announcement for Webex Assistant

As an administrator, you can now turn on the audio announcement for Webex Assistant for all site users. The audio announcement currently states Webex Assistant is enabled to save audio highlights.

For more information, see the highlighted features for this update.

Users are Forced to Sign out When their Password Change is Detected

You may realize a security risk with your credentials and then change your password to continue using Webex applications in a secure manner. If you’re using a Control Hub managed site with SSO and are leveraging Directory Connector (another Webex product that provisions users of Webex), the backend service can detect this password change. It asks you to re-authenticate your accounts to ensure safety.

Webex Meetings VDI

Webex Events (New) for VDI Environment

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) now supports Webex Events (new) for Linux OS-based thin client.

For more information, see Release Notes for Cisco Webex Meetings Virtual Desktop Software release 41.x.

Webex Meetings Integrations

Slack and Webex custom status

Take the guess work out of your Slack status. If you have a custom status like 'on PTO' but then join a Webex meeting, your status changes to 'In a Webex meeting' for the duration of the meeting. Your status changes back to what you had originally set once the meeting is over.

For more information, see Cisco Webex Meetings for Slack.

Insert a Box link to a Meeting Invite

Quickly access Box files from meeting invites. When you start or schedule a meeting from Box, the Box file’s Shared Link is included in the meeting invite. For more information, see Collaborate on files with Box.

Webex Meetings for iOS and Android

See the Cisco Webex Meetings Mobile App Resources for more info on the Webex Meetings mobile app.

Improved end-to-end encryption

Similar to desktop, mobile will also support Zero Trust Security for Webex Meetings and Webex Room Devices.

For more information, see

• End-to-End Encryption with Identity Verification for Webex Meetings

• Schedule a Webex Meeting with End-to-End Encryption

Sync the stage from mobile

Similar to desktop, hosts and cohosts on the mobile app can customize the stage by dragging a participant’s video on to the stage area and syncing the stage for everyone in the meeting to see.

For more information, see Sync your stage with everyone in Webex Meetings and Webex Events.

Events to support up to 10k users

Similar to desktop, the mobile app supports Webex Events (new) with up to 10,000 attendees, dependent on the event's capacity.