Quill launches as a team messaging antithesis to Slack with native iPhone and Mac apps

An all-new team messaging service is out today called Quill, and it’s positioned as being “for people that focus” with “conversations designed for people, not bots.” The new team messenger features a thoughtful design with advanced features like “structured” and “social channels,” retroactive threads, passive/priority mentions, nested channels, and much more.

Quill, the new messaging service for teams and businesses has officially launched today for macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and the web. The idea behind Quill is to remove the overwhelming aspects from services like Slack and give users a place to collaborate while also facilitating focus.

We love messaging. It’s our favorite way of collaborating, but not if it’s overwhelming and disorganized. We believe there’s a better way.

We grew exhausted having to skim thousands of messages every day to keep up, so we built a way to chat that’s even better than how we already communicate in person. A more deliberate way to chat. That’s what Quill is all about.

Quill takes a new approach with “structured channels” for where/when you want to encourage focus – each conversation is its own thread:

One conversation at a time. Messaging bliss.
Threads keep your conversations discoverable and organized. When you need to stay focused on a topic, use Structured Channels to require each conversation to be its own thread up front.

Revive ideas by sending a new message to a previous conversation. With history just a scroll away, everyone starts off up to date.

For more relaxed conversation, you can use “social channels” which are like Slack channels. And the sharp part is you can switch between Quill’s social and structured channels any time.

Social Channels are for free flowing chat. No structure required. Roll up messages you’ve already sent into a thread of their own. When you want to share photos from your weekend hike, or talk about the book you’re reading, Quill has Social Channels. Dip in and out of conversations, without requiring threads.

Flip your channels from social to structured, and vice versa, any time. Adapt your level of structure as your needs change.

Other unique aspects with Quill is fewer notifications by reserving alerts for critical and time sensitive messages. Going further, the activity feed is sorted by the most important items. Part of that is done with advanced mentions like passive and priority mentions.

While threads are available in most modern messaging apps, Quill goes further with the ability to split conversations, retroactively make threads, and more.

Quill offers built-in video chat (now in early access) and a whole host of other features like custom colors, large file uploads, bulk mark as read, dark mode, Sign in with Apple and Google, thread titles, SMS + email reply, and much more.

Quill is working on building in end-to-end encryption, context search, voice channels, and user profiles.

Quill is free for individuals and “small groups and teams”/”side projects” with Pro plans for going from $15/user/month. The developer says Enterprise plans are coming soon for medium and large companies.

Learn more about Quill on its website.