How Nextcloud Talk works

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 authorised 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 authorisations, 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 provider 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 authorised 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.