A new version of Mumble, an open source VoIP often regarded as a viable alternative to services like Skype and Discord, is now available for download.
And, notably, this is the first feature update to Mumble in almost 10 years!
“Mumble is a voice chat application for groups. While it can be used for any kind of activity, it is primarily intended for gaming,” reads the official website.
New features in Mumble 1.3.0 include:
- New light and dark themes
- Individual user volume adjustment (local)
- Bindable shortcut for changing transmission modes
- Optional toolbar entry to select transmission modes
- Filter to hide empty channels
- Lower volume of others while you talk using “Priority Speaker”
- Use PulseAudio monitor devices as input devices
- Synchronous multichannel recordings
- Admin improvements including user list, ban list
Mumble is free, open source software available for Windows, macOS and Linux without any licensing, costs or other faff required. It’s available as host and as client software.
While Mumble is not an app I’m hugely familiar with — I have a vague recollection of using it when I was a guest on the Ubuntu Podcast, but that’s all — it’s a tool I know a lot of folks are enthusiastic about using and promoting.
So if you’re looking for a decent audio chat app built on top of free standards, do check the latest release out using the downloads available on the Mumble website. There you’ll find Windows, macOS and Linux installer packages.
Mumble is also available as a Snap application from the Snapcraft store:
Fans of more traditional Linux packaging methods can install Mumble 1.3.0 on Ubuntu LTS releases by adding the official Mumble PPA to your software sources:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mumble/release
sudo apt install mumble
Note: the Mumble PPA does NOT contain builds for Ubuntu 19.04.