Team Voice is internal calling. Not a scheduled meeting with a link: ringing a colleague, the way a phone does.
Two ways to start one
A call rings. You pick somebody, their device rings, and they answer or they do not. Use it for one person, or a few, when you want their attention now.
An open room does not ring. It exists, anybody with access can walk in, and nobody is interrupted. Use it for a space where people drop in and out: a working session, a shared focus block, a channel's standing room.
The difference is entirely about interruption. A call says this needs you now. A room says this is happening if you want it. Choosing wrongly is how people end up resenting a perfectly good tool.
Being called
An incoming call takes over the screen, above whatever else is open, with the caller's name and avatar and a countdown showing how long it will keep ringing.
The countdown matters more than it sounds. Knowing you have eight seconds is different from a call that vanishes without explanation, and it removes the small anxiety of not knowing whether you missed something.
Declining does not end the call for anybody else. If three people were called and you decline, the other two carry on. Your decline is about you.
It follows you
The call lives at the root of the application, so navigating between HQs does not drop it.
That is the entire reason this exists inside the product rather than as a link out to something else. You can be on a call and open the deal you are discussing, in the same window, and the call does not care.
Three sizes
The call window is draggable and has three modes.
Mini is a small chip: who is on, who is speaking, mute, leave. It is the default, and it is designed to stay out of the way while you work in the application underneath.
Expanded adds the participant list and small video tiles, for when you want to see who is there without giving up the screen.
Theatre takes the full window: a dominant viewport for whatever is being shared, a rail of speakers, the full set of controls, and in-call chat.
Switch to theatre the moment somebody starts sharing. Stay in mini when the call is a conversation you are working alongside.
Who is on the call
Each participant appears as a tile with their initials, or with a robot glyph where an AI agent has joined the call.
The tile reacts to speaking, so you can tell who is talking without reading names. A raised hand shows on the tile. Reactions float up out of it. Connection quality is shown, which is how you find out that the person breaking up is on a bad line rather than being unclear.
Huddles and external guests
Team Voice is internal. It is for colleagues.
For a meeting with anybody outside your organisation, use Google Meet, Teams or Zoom from the calendar. The platform picks an external provider when there is an external attendee rather than creating something they cannot join.
A huddle is the scheduled version of the same thing: an internal meeting with a time on it, which can be recorded like any other calendar event.
Recording
A call can have Pippin Scribe on it, and the call header says so plainly while it is running.
An ad-hoc call is not recorded by default. If a conversation is going to matter, that is a strong argument for starting it as a huddle rather than a call, because a huddle is a calendar event and a calendar event leaves a record.
What it costs
Calls and rooms cost nothing, however long they run and however many you have.
Recording draws on your organisation's included meeting hours. The analysis afterwards spends credits. Neither applies unless you deliberately record.
Choosing between a call, a huddle and a meeting
Three internal options, and the difference is how much ceremony each carries.
A call is now, unscheduled, and leaves no record beyond a history row. Right for a question, a decision between two people, or anything you would have walked over to somebody's desk for.
An open room is available rather than demanded. Right for a working session where people come and go, and for the pair-working case where somebody might want to join and might not.
A huddle has a time, an invitation, attendees who can accept or decline, and a place on everybody's calendar. Right for anything more than three people, anything where somebody needs to prepare, and anything worth recording.
The failure mode is using a call where a huddle belonged: five people pulled out of what they were doing with no notice, and no record afterwards of what was decided.
Reading presence before you ring
The presence dot on a colleague answers a question worth asking first.
Online means the application is open and they have touched it recently. Ring away.
In a meeting or Presenting means they are on a call right now, and Presenting cannot be faked because it only ever comes from actually sharing a screen.
Do not disturb means they have asked for quiet. They will still see a call, and you should have a reason.
On leave comes from HR rather than from them, and means what it says.
Away or offline means a message rather than a call.
When to call instead of typing
The honest rule is about round trips. Three messages that will require six replies is a two-minute call. Anything needing a decision from more than one person is a call. Anything with a number in it that people will need to read is a message.
The opposite is worth equal respect. A call interrupts and a message does not. A colleague deep in something difficult is more use to you in ten minutes than right now, and the presence dot exists precisely so you can tell which situation you are in.
Did this answer your question?
No, ask a person