Work is no longer 9-5, nor confined to a single location. People are out and about more than ever and need to be able to access their documents and data whenever and wherever they are. As we shared at SharePoint Conference 2012 in November, we've been working hard on new SharePoint mobile apps so you can access your information from a variety of devices.
I'm excited to share an update on the progress we've made--from the new native apps and how SharePoint document access appears in the native Windows Phone Office Hub to investments in cross-device access across multiple browsers and a new backend feature called Device Channels.
Two new apps available across multiple devices
We're introducing two new apps across multiple devices: the SharePoint Newsfeed app and the SkyDrive Pro app.
The SharePoint Newsfeed app. The SharePoint Newsfeed app--available now for Windows Phone and iOS mobile devices--is the best way to stay connected and be productive while on the go. You can use the SharePoint Newsfeed app to interact with your organization's SharePoint social network, letting you:
- Create new status posts, use #hashtags, @mention direct to a colleague
- Add comments to ongoing discussions, read and "like" your colleagues' posts
- Upload pictures
- And more...
You can try the new app now, installed directly on your device. The apps will work against a Microsoft Office 365 SharePoint Online account or a properly configured on-premises SharePoint Server.
- SharePoint Newsfeed for Windows Phone: http://aka.ms/SPWP
- SharePoint Newsfeed for iOS: http://aka.ms/SPiOS
- SharePoint Newsfeed for Windows 8 modern app: (coming in Summer of 2013)
The new SharePoint Newsfeed app on a Windows Phone.
The new SharePoint Newsfeed app for iOS - left image shows app displayed on an iPad, right image shows app displayed on an iPhone.
The SkyDrive Pro app. As you may know, SkyDrive Pro is cloud storage that organizations provision for employees as part of their SharePoint 2013 on-premises and/or Office 365 SharePoint Online deployments.
This personal file storage service is for business use, and users can store, access and synchronize their files using the SkyDrive Pro client software. Users are not limited to synchronizing their personal docs--they can sync any document library to which they have permission (for document libraries where sync is turned on).
As we shared at SharePoint Conference, we're working on native SkyDrive Pro apps for Windows 8 and iOS, both will be coming in summer of 2013. There, too, is a SkyDrive Pro client for Windows - to sync your important documents to your local machine - that ships with Office 2013; also available as a free, standalone installable component. In addition, the capabilities already come natively in Windows Phone (more on that below in the Office Hub section of this post).
You can use the SkyDrive Pro app for Windows 8 and iOS to:
- View documents in your SkyDrive Pro folder
- Select specific content to take offline when you travel
- Upload new content
- Create new folders and organize
