As a key product of Nextcloud software, Nextcloud Talk enables end-to-end-encrypted video and audio chats, as well as many other features. Thanks to Nextcloud’s high security standards, the Talk app offers the highest level of data pro­tec­tion for private and business chats, webinars, or pre­sen­ta­tions. It’s also simple and intuitive to use.

What is Nextcloud Talk?

Video con­fer­ences, online pre­sen­ta­tions, team chats – at least in the last two years, col­lab­o­ra­tion tools, project man­age­ment apps, and video con­fer­enc­ing software have become essential to everyday business life. With Nextcloud Talk, the non-com­mer­cial cloud software Nextcloud offers a dedicated col­lab­o­ra­tion app to easily network with business-, team- and com­mu­ni­ca­tion- partners.

Nextcloud Talk is con­sid­ered a key product out of many Nextcloud apps. The reason for this is that hardly any other tool for telephony, chat, web con­fer­ences, and webinars offers security and data pro­tec­tion standards that are as solid as those of Nextcloud Talk. That’s because it offers the direct, encrypted trans­mis­sion of image and sound between con­ver­sa­tion par­tic­i­pants. There are also easy chat functions in the browser and mobile interface. With the Talk app, you’ll have full control over your data in ac­cor­dance with legal and business re­quire­ments. At the same time, you offer teams, partners, col­leagues, and customers an easy, secure way to connect.

What features does Nextcloud Talk offer?

Whether for personal or business use, Nextcloud Talk acts as a secure chat tool for video and audio con­fer­ences or pre­sen­ta­tions. The app can be used directly in the browser via the WebRTC standard or, most recently, version 5 Beta via a desktop client for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The Nextcloud chat app offers these functions:

Private and public video and audio chats

With Nextcloud Talk, you can com­mu­ni­cate with customers, partners, and col­leagues privately or publicly in in­di­vid­ual and group calls. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is end-to-end and peer-to-peer encrypted. Since this is self-hosted or managed hosting, everyone in the chat can rest assured that their messages and metadata are put through secure Nextcloud servers. Without having to worry about unwanted data transfers to third parties. Nextcloud’s Talk app covers all pro­fes­sion­al re­quire­ments for flexible com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion scenarios.

External par­tic­i­pants can also be invited to a public Nextcloud chat with a URL. If you or other par­tic­i­pants leave a chat, it’ll also stay open. Open chat rooms can also be found quickly by au­tho­rized guests or team/project members on the Nextcloud server.

A wide range of col­lab­o­ra­tion features

Nextcloud Talk is a powerful tool that covers all modern col­lab­o­ra­tion software es­sen­tials. These include:

  • Screen sharing with chat par­tic­i­pants during webinars, pre­sen­ta­tions, or con­fer­ences
  • Col­lab­o­ra­tive editing and sharing of files and documents, even in open chats
  • Chat admins can invite, remove, or mute par­tic­i­pants
  • Share per­mis­sions for par­tic­i­pat­ing in chats and screen sharing
  • Meetings and con­fer­ences can be linked to calendars, ap­point­ments, tasks, and files for planning
  • Reminder no­ti­fi­ca­tions before starting a chat
  • A digital waiting room before the chat starts (only with Nextcloud Talk High Per­for­mance)
  • A col­lab­o­ra­tive Nextcloud white­board to take notes, draw sketches, or create, save, upload, and share comments and an­no­ta­tions during audio and video calls
  • A hand-raising feature for when par­tic­i­pants want to speak

In­te­gra­tion in other Nextcloud apps

Nextcloud Talk can be seam­less­ly in­te­grat­ed with other Nextcloud apps such as Files or Groupware. You can combine chats and chat messages into projects via Nextcloud Projects and link them to your address book, calendar, and tasks. Ap­point­ments and messages in the chat, for example, can be converted into tasks. You can also share files directly from Nextcloud Files in a chat and attach them to tasks. With Nextcloud, you can rely on a secure and reliable all-in-one solution for projects, teamwork, and task sched­ul­ing, without having to switch platforms.

Ad­di­tion­al features

More Nextcloud Chat features include:

  • General and in­di­vid­ual au­tho­riza­tions, approvals, and access right can be managed by chat mod­er­a­tors
  • Mobile calls and push no­ti­fi­ca­tions for chats
  • Support for mobile clients and browsers running Android or iOS
  • In­te­gra­tion with other Talk servers or col­lab­o­ra­tion platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, IRC with Nextcloud Bridging
  • Breakout rooms within con­fer­ences
  • Dial-in phone calls via SIP bridge (only with Nextcloud Talk High Per­for­mance Backend)
  • Supported by multiple devices
  • Voice messages, sharing location, and contact in­for­ma­tion
  • Adding groups to a chat
  • Preview function for audio and video before the chat starts
  • Expiry time for messages
  • Reactions to messages
  • Blurred back­ground
  • Survey tools, shared content overview, and con­ver­sa­tion recording
  • Insert content from different ap­pli­ca­tions with the Smart Picker feature

What are the re­quire­ments for use?

Nextcloud Talk can be used in an up-to-date browser and via mobile clients Android and iOS. External guests can par­tic­i­pate in Nextcloud chats by way of an in­vi­ta­tion URL. Aside from Nextcloud Talk, a Nextcloud server, and op­tion­al­ly a Nextcloud client, you don’t need any special software. In terms of hardware, you need a mi­cro­phone, speakers or head­phones and, if necessary, an in­te­grat­ed or external webcam.

What ad­van­tages does the Talk app have?

The ad­van­tages of Nextcloud Talk include flexible col­lab­o­ra­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion as well as high security standards thanks to self-hosting and data sov­er­eign­ty. The key benefits include:

Data pro­tec­tion and en­cryp­tion

One of Nextcloud’s greatest strengths is that it offers secure self-hosting or managed hosting through a Nextcloud client with dedicated Nextcloud servers. Unlike services like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Zoom, you can rest assured that your data won’t go through third-party servers. Sensitive data shared via Nextcloud always stays in your private cloud with au­tho­rized users.

Private and group chats are end-to-end and peer-to-peer encrypted. With high data pro­tec­tion standards, data sov­er­eign­ty, and en­cryp­tion, you’ll always be in control of your shared data and metadata. Chat logs are only stored on your server and are protected from third-party access.

Data com­pli­ance

Com­pli­ance with national and in­ter­na­tion­al data pro­tec­tion and security re­quire­ments is es­pe­cial­ly important when it comes to business com­mu­ni­ca­tion. The reliable data sov­er­eign­ty with Nextcloud Talk ensures that you’re always in com­pli­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions such as the CCPA (Cal­i­for­nia Consumer Privacy Act) and the European ePrivacy Reg­u­la­tion. That’s why Nextcloud Talk is par­tic­u­lar­ly suited for business use, guar­an­tee­ing the greatest possible data security within the company as well as for customers and partners.

In addition, there are a wide range of other security features:

  • Multi-layer en­cryp­tion
  • Au­then­ti­ca­tion functions
  • Brute force pro­tec­tion
  • Pro­tec­tion against sus­pi­cious logins
  • Pass­word­less au­then­ti­ca­tion
  • Proactive detection and closing of un­de­tect­ed security gaps

Pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and col­lab­o­ra­tion

Nextcloud supports pro­duc­tive col­lab­o­ra­tion in teams and projects with features for private and group chats. Flexible com­mu­ni­ca­tion (even at big distances) is also supported through In­te­gra­tion with Nextcloud groupware and files, and by bridging to external services.

Easy In­te­gra­tion and in­stal­la­tion

All you need to get started is Nextcloud with Nextcloud Talk and hardware like a mi­cro­phone, speakers or head­phones, and op­tion­al­ly a webcam. External guests can also be invited via URL link. The in­stal­la­tion is very simple, and you can start calls with just one click. Desktop and mobile clients guarantee the greatest possible flex­i­bil­i­ty.

Who is Nextcloud Chat suitable for?

The Nextcloud Talk app is suited for private chats, business chats, and group chats. It’s also free for private users. Due to its many data pro­tec­tion features, apps, and Office and col­lab­o­ra­tion plugins, Nextcloud offers many ad­van­tages to companies.

If you want to invest the time and effort to set up your own Nextcloud server, you can host the cloud software yourself. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, companies can opt for Managed Nextcloud through Managed Cloud Hosting providers. This way, you’ll reduce your setup and main­te­nance effort and benefit from all Nextcloud features like Nextcloud Chat.

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