- Microsoft unveils a revamped version of Teams.
- The new app is slowly rolling out as a preview for customers.
- The new Teams app brings a faster experience, better performance, more flexibility, and AI features.
Microsoft is now rolling out a public preview of the new version of the Microsoft Teams app that introduces a significant update focusing on four areas: speed, performance, flexibility, and intelligence.
According to the announcement, the new version of the desktop app is two times faster than the previous release while consuming fifty percent less memory. The interface has also been revamped to make it easier to use, and it brings the power of AI with Copilot.
Microsoft Teams app’s new features
This is an overview of the new features and improvements you can expect after updating to the latest version.
Speed
Microsoft Teams is now twice as fast using half of the system resources, which the company achieved by overhauling the platform to optimize data, network, video, and chat architecture. You will notice these improvements in performance when launching the app and joining a meeting. Also, in Task Manager, you will notice that the new Teams app uses a lot less memory.
Interface
In this release, the company has invested in visual changes to offer a much simpler interface. The new Teams app moves away from the purple header in favor of a lighter tone that also matches the Fluent design language of Windows 11.
In addition, the chat interface has been updated to adopt a post-and-reply experience at the top. Also, you can enter threads and interact with a chat-like experience or group chat when navigating to an “@mentioned” thread.
Furthermore, the development team streamlined the chat headers with fewer buttons and a simplified chat compose box that reduces noise. The new experience also integrates with Microsoft Loop, allowing you to use components like lists, tables, or notes that sync across apps.
Another visual change is the addition of group profile pictures and group theming for the chat experience to make it easier to navigate and give personality to those groups you interact with most.
You will also find new animations across the app that makes the experience seem even faster.
Flexibility
As part of flexibility, Microsoft has improved the authentication model, synchronization, and notification systems to provide a seamless and consistent experience across multiple tenants or accounts. Also, you can stay signed in across them all while receiving notifications, no matter which one you use.
AI
Finally, the Teams app integrates with Copilot and intelligent recap. The ability to have Copilot means you now interact with a chatbot that can automate many tasks. For example, Copilot can summarize chats, emails, and documents. It can analyze data and provide predictions and results. Also, it writes drafts combining different sources of information and more.
Intelligent recap offers similar AI capabilities. For instance, you can use it to generate meeting notes, recommended tasks, and personalized highlights automatically to help you get the most important details, even if you miss the meeting.
Although the new version of Teams is available starting March 27, it’s only a preview for Windows users. A preview for macOS users will arrive later in the year. If you want to switch to the version of the app, turn on the “New Teams” toggle switch from the header when it becomes available to you. Commercial customers will require the administrator to first opt-in to the preview before the option becomes available.
The company plans to roll out the new experience for paying customers later in the coming months.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].