Mobile Client Comparison Tables

 

Topic Last Modified: 2012-11-16

The following tables compare the features and capabilities among Lync 2010 mobile clients and the Lync 2010 desktop client in the following categories:

  • Sign-in, sign-out, and push notifications

  • Enhanced presence

  • Contacts and contact groups

  • Instant messaging (IM)

  • Conferencing

  • Telephony

  • External users

  • Archiving and compliance

These tables indicate the features that are available to Lync users in an on-premises deployment of Lync Server 2010. The same features are also available to Lync Online and Office 365 users unless otherwise indicated in the table footnotes.

Note

To compare the features available in other Lync 2010 clients, see Client Comparison Tables.

Sign-in and Push Notifications

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Lync session remains signed in

●1

●1

●1

●1

●1

Support for push notifications

2

2

Country code populates based on region settings

Account information for multiple users can be cached on the same device

1 On Windows Phone, Lync signs out automatically if the user has not used the application for a period of time, as follows:

  • If the user has enabled push notifications, Lync signs out after 36 hours.

  • If the user has not enabled push notifications, Lync signs out after 1 hour.

On iPhone and iPad, Lync signs out automatically if the user has not used the application for a period of time, as follows:

  • If the user has enabled push notifications, Lync signs out after 36 hours. Lync sends a push notification indicating that the user must sign back in.

  • If the user has not enabled push notifications, Lync signs out after 1 hour.

On Android and Nokia (Symbian), Lync remains signed in as long as the application can contact the server. Contact with the server occurs automatically every 5 minutes, even if Lync is in the background or the device is locked.

  • If the Lync application cannot communicate with the server for more than one hour, the server will sign out the user. If the user is not signed in to any other Lync client, the user will appear Offline.

  • The Lync application automatically signs in when it can communicate with server again.

  • If an Android device is connected through Wi-Fi, the device may close the Wi-Fi connection after a certain period of time (the default on many Android devices is 10 minutes), at which point the Lync app will lose the connection with the server running Lync Server.

2 On Android and Nokia (Symbian) mobile devices, the Lync application runs in the background and push notifications are not required.

Enhanced Presence Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Publish and view status

View status based on calendar free/busy information

View status notes and Out of Office messages

Add a custom location

Add a custom note

Publish status based on calendar free/busy information

●1

Set manual presence state (such as Busy, Do Not Disturb, etc.)

1 Lync mobile clients do not update a user’s presence based on the user’s free/busy calendar information. If a mobile client user is also signed in to the Lync desktop client, the desktop client updates the user’s presence based on the user’s free/busy calendar information. If the user is signed in to a mobile client only, the user’s presence does not update based on free/busy calendar information.

Contacts and Contact Groups Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

View Contacts list

View contact groups

View Frequent Contacts group

Modify Contacts list

Tag contacts for status change alerts

Control privacy relationships

Search the corporate address book

Search Contacts list

Manage contact groups

●1

Expand distribution groups

Search for Response Groups

●2

Display or hide contact photos

1 With Lync 2010 for Nokia, a user can search for a contact and add the contact to a group, and remove a contact from a group.

2 Not available to Lync Online and/or Office 365 users.

IM Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Initiate IM with a contact

Participate in multiparty IM

Invite others from within the conversation window

Display current conversations

Navigate among multiple IM conversations

Automatically log IM conversations in Exchange

Send an IM conversation as an email message

Initiate an email to a contact

View missed IM invitations

●1

●1

Vibrate with incoming IM

●2

Send location in an IM

1 If the user accepts an IM invitation on the desktop client, a missed IM notification will display on the user’s mobile phone

2 This device vibrates every time an IM is received even if the current message in the IM conversation is displayed

Conferencing Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Click a link in the meeting reminder to join a meeting (audio only)

●1

●1

●1

●1

●2

Participate in multiparty IM

Use dial-out conferencing (server calls the mobile device)

●3

●3

●3

●3

●3

Use dial-in audio conferencing

●4

View meeting video

Wait in meeting lobby

Use in-meeting presenter controls

Access detailed meeting roster for audio conferences

Access detailed meeting roster for IM conferences

Share desktop or program

Use meeting tools (present Microsoft PowerPoint files, use whiteboard, conduct polls, share files)

Navigate a list of your meetings

1 For Office 365 users, this feature is available for audio conferencing provider (ACP)-enabled meetings only.

2 For Office 365 users, this feature is available for audio conferencing provider (ACP)-enabled meetings only. For on-premises Lync Server 2010 users, Lync 2010 for Nokia client integrates with Nokia Phone Calendar and all Lync meetings in the Calendar contain a Join Meeting button.

3 Not available to Office 365 users.

4 For Lync Online and/or Office 365 users, this feature is available from third-party audio conferencing providers.

Telephony Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

In Lync, tap the call icon to call a contact

●1

●2

●2

●2

●3

●2

Transfer a call

●1

Manage call forwarding

●4

●4

Manage team call settings

●4

Manage delegates

●4

Initiate a call to a Response Group

●4

Support emergency services

●5

Make calls on behalf of another contact (manager/delegate scenario)

●4

Handle another's calls if configured as a delegate

●4

●4

●4

●4

●4

Use Call via Work (Lync Server places your outgoing calls so that the receiver’s caller ID displays your work number instead of your mobile number)

●4

●4

●4

●4

Access voice mail

●5

Use the keypad in Lync

●4

●4

●4

●4

1 For Lync Online and/or Office 365 users, this feature is available for PC to PC calls. PSTN calls are supported by Lync to phone mobile partners.

2 For on-premises Lync Server 2010 users, on Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, and Nokia (Symbian) devices, the user taps the call icon in the contact card and accepts the callback from Lync Server. For Office 365 users, on Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, and Nokia (Symbian) devices, when the user taps the call button, a dialog box opens asking the user to confirm that he or she wants to call the number.

3 On Android devices, for both on-premises and Office 365 users, the user taps the call icon in the contact card to copy the contact’s phone number to the Android dial pad, and then the user clicks the call button.

4 Not available to Lync Online and/or Office 365 users.

5 For Lync Online and/or Office 365 users, this feature is supported by Microsoft partners.

External User Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Initiate IM with a public contact

Initiate IM with a federated contact

Conduct two-party calls with external users

Conduct multiparty calls with external users

Use Call via Work to reach a federated contact on their mobile phone by calling their published work number1

●2

●2

●2

●2

1 By default, federated users are assigned the External Contacts privacy relationship. To be able to reach a federated contact on his or her mobile phone by calling his or her published work number, the federated contact must manually assign you the Colleagues privacy relationship.

2 Not available to Office 365 users.

Archiving and Compliance Support in Lync Mobile Clients

Feature/Capability Lync 2010 desktop client Windows Phone iPhone iPad Android Nokia (Symbian)

Provide client-side archiving

Provide client-side recording

●1

1 Not available to Lync Online and/or Office 365 users.