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The Slack Platform received an update today that brings its App Directory inside the chat client. Until today, the platform’s more than 1,000 apps could only be added to a Slack channel by visiting the App Directory in a web browser.
The news was shared onstage by Slack director of developer relations Amir Shevat at MB 2017, a two-day gathering of AI and bot industry innovators.
Active apps are now listed in the sidebar below direct messages and channels. To install new apps, just click or tap the “Apps” label above active apps to search by name or type or to open the App Directory.
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When you select an app on Slack now, you’ll see a description along with instructional videos and other materials from the developer.
The Slack App Directory now includes more than 1,000 apps, 200 of which are used by more than 1,000 teams, Slack Platform product lead Buster Benson said in a Medium post.
The Slack Fund today also announced investment in seven additional bot startups, bringing the total to 32 investments since December 2015. Among them:
- Polly creates polls and surveys of employees or team members in a Slack channel
- Neva provides IT support
- Drafted recruits for hiring positions within companies
- Parabol creates team project management dashboards
- PinPT Software tracks team spending
- Loom lets teams share quick videos for collaboration
- StdLib connects businesses and developers via APIs
Slack Fund investments and apps inside the Slack chat client weren’t the only changes made this week: The Slack app logo has also changed slightly, dropping some of its stripes and the plaid look for more solid colors.
Plans to bring its App Directory inside the Slack app were shared in a May update to the Slack Platform’s public Trello board. Other plans ahead for the Slack Platform include new display options for lists and tables, and to allow developers to track events like when a Slack team uninstalls an app.
Competition for Slack has grown steadily since it launched its platform in December 2015, with the introduction of Microsoft Teams, Google’s Hangout Chats, and Facebook’s Workplace, all of which plan to include third-party integrations or bots.
Slack now has five million daily active users, up from four million last fall.
