What’s changing
We’ve redesigned the Jamboard apps for iOS and Android to improve usability, performance, and reliability for Jamboard users. Together with our recent
usability redesign of Jamboard hardware on web, these updates create a rich collaborative experience for Jamming across all user touch points.
These changes create a more seamless and consistent experience, bringing familiar functionalities from other Google Editors to Jamboard. Additionally, we’re removing several functions to further streamline the user experience. For more details, see below.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
We’ve redesigned the current Jamboard apps to optimize the user experience, improve performance and reliability, make them work more effectively:
Jamboard is now more consistent with other G Suite editorsWe’re bringing familiar functions from Google Editors to the Jamboard apps, which will make them easier to use. Specifically, you’ll be able to take actions such as starring, make a copy of a Jam or copy a link to a Jam. We’re also adding the standard G Suite link sharing abilities found in our editors to our apps to make sharing easier.
You’ll also notice a grid view and a list view for your Jams on the homescreen. You can view recent, shared with me, starred and trashed Jams as browsable directories. These features are a part of the larger effort to bring the power and familiarity of G Suite to Jamboard.
An improved editing experience for mobile and tablet usersWe’ve added full portrait and landscape support for apps, which makes jamming on mobile and tablet devices easier.
You’ll see a redesigned toolbar and framebar bringing a familiar interface from Jamboard hardware and the web to users. We’ve also added missing tools, such as the select tool to mobile and made the tools for inserting images and drive files more performant and reliable.
Easily join or open a Jam on Jamboard and share a Jam with people We’ve made several improvements to the way you join and open Jams on Jamboard, and share Jams with people from mobile and tablet devices. You can now share Jams using the standard G Suite sharing methods. You can open a Jam on Jamboard using Bluetooth. Also, you can join a Jam on Jamboard using Bluetooth or a jam-code that is created on Jamboard hardware.
You can read more about the improvements of our usability redesign
here. See our Help Center to learn more about the updates to the
sharing,
opening and
joining model.
How to get started
- Admins: No action required.
- End users: You’ll see the new changes coming to your Android and iOS devices in the coming days. For more information on the updates to claiming and sharing Jams, see our “Helpful links” section.
Additional details
We’ve temporarily removed the ability to create a jam offline while we continue working toward achieving parity with the offline capabilities of other G Suite Editors. You’ll still be able to edit a Jam offline while you have a Jam open and edit any Jams offline you have previously opened.
We’ll also be deprecating a few features:
- You’ll no longer be able to use NFC to open or join a Jam on Jamboard. Instead, you can use Bluetooth to open or join Jams on Jamboard.
- We’ve removed the Hangouts integration on mobile and tablet. To co-edit a Jam, share the Jam file link in Hangouts Chat or attach it to a calendar entry, which gives all meeting participants access to the Jam. To present a Jam to a meeting, use the new mobile Meet screen-sharing feature which is available on iOS and coming soon to Android.
- We’re removing the web search and crop feature. Instead, you can use the native browser to find a web page, the native screen-capture and crop functionality, and our apps gallery insert flow to insert cropped images of web pages. For our EDU customers, this change allows us to lower the age restriction of our apps to 13+.
- The ability to create Jam file codes on mobile and tablet will also be removed. Instead, you can use the familiar G Suite share features to share with people or use Bluetooth to open Jams on Jamboard.
Helpful links
Availability
Rollout details
G Suite editions
- Available to all G Suite editions
On/off by default?
- This feature will be ON by default.
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