14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Teams is first and foremost a great productivity tool, as it allows employees working for the same company to connect and collaborate like never before.
But Microsoft doesn’t want to stop here, and Microsoft Teams is also available for consumers, and this week, the company announced the general availability of personal features in Teams.
In other words, Teams is now fully prepared for personal use, therefore replacing other free apps such as the likes of Zoom on both the desktop and mobile.
One of the highlights of this release is the Together mode, which is now available for consumers too.
“You can now turn any regular video call into a shared virtual environment using Together mode to help feel like you’re in the same space as your family and friends. With Together mode, video call fatigue is reduced because your brain doesn’t have to work as hard when compared to a standard video call. You can choose from a variety of new virtual environments such as a family lounge, coffee shop, or even a summer resort to make your calls more engaging, fun, and connected, even when you’re apart,” Microsoft explains.
Available today for everybody
In addition, the new personal feature arsenal includes live emoji reactions and GIFs, a feature that turns Microsoft Teams into a friendlier chatting environment for the entire family.
Then, Microsoft Teams now allows everybody to join a meeting even without the app, all using a dedicated video call link that can be even loaded in the browser. Up to 300 people can join a video call as part of this new update.
Microsoft Teams for personal use now comes with support for SMS text messages, lists, polls. And at the same time, the app also comes with a chat dashboard that makes managing everything much more convenient.
“The dashboard neatly organizes all your group’s shared content, from photos, files, web links, shared tasks, and upcoming group events. This has saved me so much time because I can now quickly jump in and out of my different group chats and easily access all the shared information related to that chat,” Microsoft explains.
The new personal features in Microsoft Teams are available today for all users.