There is nothing more frustrating about Windows Phone than finding out that one of the services that I have to use on a daily basis does not have an app in Store, nor is there a third-party offering available. The poor developer support is one of the main reasons why I switched to iPhone 6 Plus late last year, after using Windows Phones exclusively for nearly two years straight.
However, in the case of some services, at least there is hope. Slack, the communication tool that we use at BetaNews, does not currently have a Windows Phone client, but the company behind the service is actively working on one, showing off an early build on Twitter.
Slack has not said much about its Windows Phone client, but there are a couple of interesting pieces of information that were also revealed. First off, the app is currently not designed as an Universal App, being optimized only for smartphones.
Those who were hoping to use Slack on a Windows tablet will have to make do with the desktop client, which is already available for Windows 7 and newer versions of the operating system, including Windows 10. Also, it does not look like Slack is building the app to be fully compatible with the upcoming Windows 10 Mobile.
Slack is not looking for any external testers, hence why I said above that the app is in an early development phase. Slack, however, says that when external testers will be needed, it will announce so on Twitter.
Obviously, there is no word on when Slack for Windows Phone will be released. Keep in mind that Slack told us about its plans to create a Windows Phone app back in March, which suggests that a release on Windows Phone is not a priority.
@rubemlrm oh, you mean this one? pic.twitter.com/zeSWfMLB09
— Slack (@SlackHQ) July 30, 2015
Slack can also be accessed through a browser, but, as is the case with lots of other web clients, it is better suited to PCs than smartphones. Of course both Android and iOS get proper mobile clients, which work great based on my experience.