Version 4.32 - Features and Enhancements delivered in the June 24, 2020 Amazon Chime release.
Amazon Chime version 4.32 for Windows, macOS, web, iOS, and Android are now available.
Upcoming change announcement [macOS]
Beginning with the next client release (4.33), the Amazon Chime macOS clients will be signed with a new certificate. Amazon Chime clients released prior to December, 2019 (4.28) will receive an application is no longer trusted message.
If you use the macOS client, please ensure that you have updated to the latest version by following one of the steps below:
- Launch the Amazon Chime client and choose Check for Updates... from the Amazon Chime menu and follow the steps to download and install the latest version.
- Navigate to https://aws.amazon.com/chime/download and choose to install the macOS client. Follow the steps to install the latest version of Amazon Chime.
Video highlights have been added to identify active audio sources [Windows, macOS]
Amazon Chime now highlights the video tiles of attendees who are speaking or whose audio is capturing background noise during the meeting. The top two attendees contributing audio to the meeting will be highlighted to provide a visual cue to indicate who is speaking for others who are viewing video. The new video highlight feature, along with the existing audio icon “bounce”, may be used to make your meetings more inclusive or to quickly identify one or more attendees that may need to be muted.
Picture in Picture video layout [Windows, macOS]
The picture-in-picture video layout in Amazon Chime provides an optimized experience where each attendee sees a large video of the other attendee and their own smaller video tile is displayed in the lower right of the video window. Previously whenever there were more than two attendees listed on the meeting roster, attendees would see a grid view with each tile being the same size. Note: An attendee may turn off self view for all layouts by going to More > Change Video > Show Preview for my Own Video. 
Amazon Chime desktop clients now use the picture-in-picture video layout any time two attendees are present in a meeting, which excludes attendees listed under invited, declined, running late, left, and dropped status. With this new experience, the video layout will switch between picture-in-picture with two attendees, to the tile layout when more join, and then return to picture-in-picture if other attendees leave and two are remaining, providing a more immersive one-on-one video experience.
The enhanced access control options for scheduling Amazon Chime meetings has been added to the Amazon Chime Add-In for Outlook on Windows. [Windows]
Delegates and others that use the Amazon Chime Add-in for Outlook on Windows to schedule meetings for other organizers now can use the new enhanced meeting control options to manage who can access their meetings and how those attendees can join. Meetings can now be set up to restrict or allow access to attendees based on their relationship to the organizer, which is established using the Amazon Chime account registration and authentication mechanisms. For more details on the various options and access controls, please see https://answers.chime.aws/articles/1095/managing-access-to-your-meetings.html and the release notes published with the original feature launch https://answers.chime.aws/articles/1081/announcing-enhanced-meeting-join-controls.html.
Bugs and Performance improvements
Improved reconnection logic for a more streamlined experience [Windows, macOS]
We have improved the user experience associated with the reconnection process and the banner that is displayed when the Amazon Chime client experiences network connectivity challenges.
- When Amazon Chime is not able to connect to the device’s network, instead of notifying the user immediately, we will wait a short amount of time (up to 15 seconds) to see if the network resolves itself. This reduces the noise associated with events such as a VPN reconnect, or a network access point change.
- If the network challenge has not been resolved the Amazon Chime clients will continue to attempt reconnection and provide banners to indicate the various states as follows:
- Amazon Chime indicates that there is no network connected. We recommend that the user perform actions on their device to restore the network.
- Amazon Chime indicates it is attempting to reconnect. The client will retry for 30 seconds and then display the banner with the option to *Refresh now*.
- Amazon Chime indicates it is attempting to reconnect. Before clicking the Refresh now button, It is recommended that you copy any unsent messages (in the Sending... state) as the content may be lost. Press the Refresh now button to manually refresh the connection to the Amazon Chime servers.
- Amazon Chime indicates that there is no network connected. We recommend that the user perform actions on their device to restore the network.
- In all cases, if the Amazon Chime client is able to detect network connectivity, the banner will be dismissed automatically without the need for user interaction.
Upgrade the Amazon Chime client without requiring the user to be signed in [Windows, macOS]
You can now check for upgrades and install the latest version of Amazon Chime without signing into the Amazon Chime client and follow instructions provided to install the application.
- On macOS, open Amazon Chime and choose Check for Updates... from the Amazon Chime menu.
- On Windows, open Amazon Chime and choose Check for Updates... from the Help menu.
Video performance improvements [Windows, macOS, web, iOS, Android]
Video encoding and decoding is now GPU hardware accelerated, whenever possible. If GPU hardware acceleration is not available, Amazon Chime will then attempt to use CPU hardware acceleration. If hardware acceleration is not available by GPU or CPU, Amazon Chime performs software encoding and decoding with the CPU.
Video quality improvements [Windows, macOS]
Video is simulcast in high and low resolutions streams, so users can view low resolution streams when their Internet connection cannot support high resolution streams. 720p High Definition (HD) video is now available to peer-to-peer meetings, as well as overall higher resolution improvements for group meetings.
Audio Quality [Windows, macOS, Android]
- Addressed a bug that resulted in meeting attendees experiencing audio gaps for users who did not have the Amazon Chime Auto adjust audio levels audio setting enabled. [Windows, macOS, Android]
- The Enhanced Echo cancellation option has been removed from the Audio settings tab as it is no longer required to engage the enhanced Amazon Chime echo-cancellation modules – this also ensures better performance for users with built-in mics. [Windows, macOS]
Improved messaging when an anonymous user tries to join a locked meeting [Windows, macOS, web]
With the release of the new enhanced meeting join controls, organizers can choose options which restrict access to Amazon Chime meetings.
We have added clarification to the message displayed when the user is attempting to join a locked meeting without signing in recommending that they sign in and try to join the meeting again: This meeting has been locked by the organizer and may require you to sign-in.
