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Switchboard â Turn your phone into a handsfree intercom
Switchboard is your instant voice network. It gives you a hands-free intercom between close friends and colleagues to let you chat more spontaneously, as though you're in the same room. You control your availability so that you're easy to reach when you want and you can focus when you need.
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@josh_robbins Thanks for the feedback, Josh! Glad to hear you like Switchboard so far and that @michael_reynolds has you excited about some of our upcoming features! Please let us know if we can help you further in any way.
This looks great! Little bummed there's no android support yet, but I can't wait to use it with Slack :)
@lamaalrajih Thanks Lama! We're also eager to release an Android version. In the mean time, if you're on a Mac, we also have a beta release for OSX: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/...
@lamaalrajih See you on Switchboard! Feel free to join us in one of the public groups if you have any questions or comments!
@gorf I've tried the Mac app, and the UX is a little confusing, and I've heard from others that the iPhone app is as well. It would be nice if we could get some tutorial/help for first-time users :)
I've been using this for a few weeks with my husband and it's a huge hit in our house! Previously we had set up a private Discord server but found the constant connection distracting with no privacy. With Switchboard I can reach him whenever I need, even if he's got headphones on, without yelling at the top of my voice inside the house. He's happy to not have a yelling wife. đ
It's also been good to use while coordinating with a remote engineering team, and has replaced our persistent Google Hangouts group. Engineers can focus on work, I can reach them whenever I need, it's a win win. Great product.
Hi Hunters!
We set out to build something that would change the way we use our voice to communicate. We started with the idea that the most important people in your life, whether they are friends, family or colleagues, no matter where they are, should be available without needing to schedule specific times to meet. What we ended up with is Switchboard, an intercom for your phone that lets you talk to your important contacts instantly when they are available. It is a seemingly simple concept, but thanks to presence indication and other features that make it faster than normal calls or video meetings, it enables more spontaneous conversation as if youâre in the same room. (We also have some really exciting features in the dev builds that will be released into the wild soon...).
Our team has been using the product and iterating to build the perfect tool for our own needs. And as a distributed team working on Switchboard from 6 different cities, we put this product through the wringer on a daily basis.
Just like Slack, it takes time to work into your normal routines. But also like Slack, once it becomes a part of your routines, you donât know how you survived without it.
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Hope you like it!
See you on Switchboard,
Jim
@jimsrand Great stuff! We have a team that's spread out geographically. Assembling people into a call is extremely clunky. When people want to talk, they don't like waiting, and every action (unlock, select app, contact drive up friction and drives down engagement).
Over time I have used every type of chat/voice tool (Skype (hate it), Viber, messenger, original Google Chat/Talk, new voice, hangouts, meeting etc.) . Right now we like Facebook's Workplace/Workchat and Whatsapp.
Last year I tried to bring Discord into the company and it was awful. The UI/UX was horrible.
Your app looks great. I'm going to try it with some team members today. I'll keep you posted.
Cheers
Resh
@jimsrand @resh Hi Resh - wanted to follow up with you and see if you'd be around for a quick chat about what worked / didn't work about Switchboard. I just sent you a friend request on Switchboard, but if you'd rather chat over email I respond to feedback@synervoz.com. Thanks very much in advance for your time.
Congrats on the launch team! Things Iâm most excited about here:
1. Starting a group voice chat with the ease of sharing a link. Itâs bit.ly for phone calls.
2. Taking the friction out of âcalling someoneâ when youâre working in small groups, especially remote.
3. Awesome feature being built into next version đ¤Ż
Love what you guys are doing and I'm excited to try this out! We definitely underutilize the power and effectiveness of voice communication in everyday life :)
While I see how Switchboard can be effective for remote teams, how do you see it fitting into workflows for the large number of non-remote teams where employees are self-conscious about talking out loud in open-floor spaces?
And as a follow-on question, given the above, where do you see Switchboard fitting into the "productivity stack" of Slack, Email, Google Hangouts etc. Is it meant to replace any existing forms of communication or simply exist as another medium we can use?
@stevewu22 Weâre glad you see the value in humanizing conversation again!
With respect to voice in an open space, we do not see Switchboard (nor voice in general) as a replacement for texting or even asynchronous chat. We do see it as enabling real time and voice to capture a larger share of your communication by reducing overall friction.
In time, we expect a behavioural shift - not only due to speed, but due to the personal aspects and ability of voice to convey more information (emotion / sarcasm, etc.). Our goal is to bridge the gap between users that need privacy (need texting) and those who need hands-free (voice). Speech to text and text to speech conversions will certainly help us there. There are more features are coming soon, but you may see that one of our current features (illustrated in one of the videos) connects voice messages into Slack with a transcript.
We will soon be introducing music features that greatly help in an open office as well. Do keep an eye out here for that. The crux is that your headphones will help you isolate yourself from noise, but not from your colleagues (except when youâre switched off of course!)
Longer term we see Switchboard as connecting more than just colleagues. We expect it to allow you to control inbound communication for those most important in your life. Looking forward, when we are âbeyond the screenâ so to speak, we hope the ability to Switch on and Switch off (to particular sets of people) from any device with microphone & speakers enables people to convey when they want to be in touch, and when they donât, no matter where they are.
Been looking forward to this launch for quite some time! Congrats, Jim and team! Looking forward to taking it for a test spin :)
@chrisbuttenham Thanks Chris! We hope you enjoy it and as always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments!
Wonderful to see new apps like these that simplies modern ways of working. I was wondering if what is being said remains confidential and how secure the app is?
Also, would it be possible to add colleagues by emails instead of them needing to sign in first into the app? I think the opposite would allow to add more people faster... :)
@a_sky Thanks for reaching out. Check out what James (our CTO) wrote above for the answer to your security question (just two questions up the thread here). Yes, everything being said is confidential.
RE adding friends, when you tap on the add friends button in the top right corner, you can share an invite link by email. You can also tap on the button with two people on it (also in the top right) and "Create team". Doing so allows you to create a link which you can then paste in an email chain. Note that every person that clicks this team link invite will be connected to everyone else that has ever clicked that invite (so keep your friends and colleagues separate!)
Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!
@michael_reynolds Thank you for the answer! there were so many comments that I didn't go through them all â+
Using the Mac App I am not being able to recreate the steps with the add button > two people icon (private groupe for example)... I think a FAQ or quick tutorial video could be super useful when we discover new kind of products/services... đĄ
I tested Switchboard with a colleague last night at the office and it worked pretty well. The only thing is that we felt once that would need to contact us through Switchboard could hear our office environment/discussion without us being aware of it... Is that possible or would it be like a one way audio in this case?
Best thanks for your help đ
It's that kind of idea which makes us think, isn't this product already there in the market! Great job guys. Totally useful (for the intended audience). Do you have broadcast option too? For e.g., in a construction site, I would like to update all my colleagues on the 3rd floor!
As someone who tends to overthink written communication, I really appreciate how switchboard makes it easier to have a quick chat with my coworkers. Sometimes it's just faster if you talk it out, right!?
I also love the ability to easily share a link to chat with people not using the app (customer calls, in my case), and the interaction with my music is great. I've heard whispers of more music features in the pipeline, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Being an android user, I can't take advantage of the iOS app, but the MacOS app has been a great alternative. Looking forward to seeing more from you guys! đ
@jocelyn_hett glad you're enjoying it, and yes you heard right, there are cool music features in the pipeline... stay tuned as we plan to announce more in the next month or so!
Since I have met @jimsrand @jamesmeier during Techstars, they have made tremendous progress. Switchboard is the best thing that happened to our team of 15 since Slack.
This looks cool! :) I do 98% of my work remotely, so I'm always looking for tools that can help me communicate with my team in a more natural way.
@agervs Thanks Alex- glad you like it! Please let us know if you need a hand setting things up with your team. Our team is currently hanging out in the public groups on Switchboard and would be glad to help!
Seems like a great app, will give it a try soon with my team. However, I do have one question: where do you guys get your revenue from since the app is free and thereâs no âpremiumâ subscription?
@gvkjr Hey Gerard great question. While we do intend to introduce a premium tier for the Switchboard app for power users, we have developed a deep audio and voice technology stack to power Switchboard and intend to license via an SDK. We are currently running paid pilots to validate this model.
@jimsrand Thanks for the swift reply. Nice to see a company monetising their tech instead of their data once in a while. Hope things go well!
As a remote worker, I use switchboard to communicate easily with my coworkers as well as with clients. It's great to be able to talk with my team at anytime like we are in the same room. For clients I love that I can just share a link for them to talk to me without having to signup if they don't want to.
Giving it a spin now.
You do need to look at ASO though. Typing switchboard in appstore does not show up the app, had to search through Synervoz.
@adamallaccess Hi Adam. Great to hear you've been finding our product useful. We're always updating Switchboard to make it more powerful and easy to use. We'll be announcing some great new stuff over the next month or so. Stay in touch!
Love this thing! Use it all day to communicate with coworkers in remote offices, and also on walks with my wife - we can both listen to music and talk to each other seamlessly and without taking our damn earbuds out.
Pros:Excellent voice quality, intuitive functionality, much better operation than skype or hangouts.
Cons:Not really a con, but the product still has a few bugs (early in development)
How does this differ from voice specific messaging apps, like Voxer? Or any other Walkie Talkie apps
@andredalbuq Good question.
In general, you do not need to push to talk, the conversation flows from an intercom (the first person reaching out) to a full duplex conversation (as soon as they respond). Voice commands are another differentiator (depending on the app / specific commands) for now.
That said, we built Switchboard with a persistent connection architecture and the ability to establish and control communications via side channels. So, for example, we have used smart buttons, Slack shortcuts, and other things to control what channels youâre monitoring or speaking to. We have the ability to mix audio channels (voice & other things) as well. Expect more to come here. Gestures and proximity based controls are on our roadmap, for example. The way we built Switchboard allows for a lot of flexibility and our pipeline is full of fun stuff to take advantage of that!
@edwardvasquezdr Thanks for the interest. We plan to introduce a premium tier for the Switchboard app for power users, but the business model revolves more around the technology stack. We have developed a deep audio and voice technology stack to power Switchboard and intend to license via an SDK. We are currently running paid pilots to validate this model.
Hey Product Hunt! Feel free to add any of us Makers on Switchboard. Tell us what you think. We love making stuff, we can also talk about that.
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