Lync 2013 Mobile Client RELEASED

On March 13, 2013, Microsoft released the Lync 2013 Mobile Client.  Here is my first experience with the install on an iPhone 5.  To locate the app I simply went to the Apple App Store and searched for Lync.  There are two versions of Lync Mobile in the App Store. 

• Microsoft Lync 2010 for iPhone
• Microsoft Lync 2013 for iPhone

After located the 2013 version, I clicked Free and installed the app. 

Once the app is installed, I opened the app and it presented with this screen, but immediately after prompted me to access my cell phone contacts.

Once I clicked OK, it notified me that I needed a Lync account to use the app.  Good thing I have one, or 5. 🙂

After clicking OK again, I am presented with a login screen.  I entered my Catapult credentials and clicked Sign In.

The first time you login you are presented with a Welcome screen, click Next.

The next screen is really interesting.  It gives you the option to choose whether VoIP and video calls should require Wi-Fi.  The 2013 client does in fact support VoIP and video calls over the cellular data or Wi-Fi networks.  VERY COOL!

The next screen asks you for your cell phone number as a fall back in case VoIP is not available.  This would be the normal functionality in Lync Mobile 2010.

After another “YOU’RE ALL SET” message, click Done and you’re into the app.

You’re first presented with your The look and feel of the app itself is not all that different from the Lync 2010 mobile version. At the bottom you still have the My Info, Contacts, Chats, Meetings, and Phone icons.

The My Info icon on the bottom left side of the menu is similar to the Lync 2010 mobile client.  When you click into the Options menu you will see your Voice and Video settings, which will again allow you to choose whether Voice and Video calls can use the cellular data network.  This could be particularly useful for international travel.  You don’t want to spend international data roaming charges for voice calls inadvertently.  Also, depending on your cellular service, you might not get good performance over the cellular network.

The remaining screens are very similar to the Lync 2010 (Mobile). The My Info page allows you to change your status.  The Call Forwarding allows you to set up call Forwarding, Simultaneous Ring, or turn off call forwarding.  Your conversations will appear in the Chats window.  Once new thing I noticed is that your meetings will now also appear in the Chats window.  If you get dropped for some reason, you can rejoin the meeting from your Chats window.  The Meetings window shows you your calendar for the day.  Any Lync meetings on your calendar will be colored in light-blue.  If you open the meeting

Some of the things I’ve learned:

• The Lync 2013 Mobile Client does not work with Lync Server 2010.
• VoIP and video calls work surprisingly well even over cellular data lines.  Of course I do have an AT&T iPhone 5 with LTE, so that helps.  I’ve heard from others that Voice over cellular data is not so good.
• While in a VoIP call if someone calls you on your cell it automatically puts your VoIP call on hold.  This is NOT a good feature in my opinion.  I was on a call with a customer the other day and someone called my cell.  It automatically put me on-hold in the middle of
• The notifications for incoming calls and messages seem to be more responsive.  In the Lync 2010 client I would often receive a notification of an incoming message, but once the notification disappeared I had a hard time finding the conversation.  It didn’t always appear in the Chats window.

Here is more information from the Lync 2013 mobile client release FAQ.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2013/03/13/lync-2013-mobile-clients-release-faq.aspx