Google revamps Jamboard on Android and iOS to be more like G Suite apps

While most people are only aware of Jamboard as a 55-inch 4K touchscreen for enterprise, there are also Android, iOS, and web apps. The mobile clients today are getting a revamp that brings Jamboard closer to other G Suite apps.

The focus of today’s Jamboard redesign is on usability, performance, and reliability. It matches a similar web update to boost collaboration, with Google “bringing familiar functionalities from other Google Editors to Jamboard.”

For starters, Google is adding the standard G Suite link sharing capabilities found in Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. Jam files can be opened or joined using Bluetooth, or Jam-code. However, Google has removed the ability to use NFC to perform either of those actions.

A grid and list homescreen lets you view by recent, shared with me, starred, and trashed. Other standard features coming include starring, duplicating, and copying a link to Jams.

The editing interface adds full portrait and landscape support. Borrowing from Jamboard hardware, there is a redesigned toolbar and framebar for a more consistent experience. The select tool is now available on mobile while inserting images and Drive files should be “more performant and reliable.”

For the moment, the ability to create a new Jam when there’s no connectivity has been temporarily removed as Google works on reaching feature parity with other G Suite clients. You’ll still be able to edit an existing offline file.

Google with this Jamboard redesign is deprecating a handful of other features, including the excellent built-in web clipping tool:

• 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+.