14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve known for a while that Microsoft was working on an Apple Silicon version of Microsoft Teams, and now it looks like an M1-optimized client is finally available for download.
While the Redmond-based software giant is yet to publicly announce this release, people online have noticed that an updated client has been published on the official Microsoft Teams website.
After the download, this app appears to be a universal build that runs natively on Apple Silicon. In other words, Microsoft Teams for M1 chips is here, with an official announcement most likely just around the corner.
Microsoft Teams on Apple Silicon confirmed in 2020
It took Microsoft more than a year to complete the work on an M1-optimized version of the Microsoft Teams client, as the company originally confirmed this update back in December 2020.
Given the performance improvements brought by Apple Silicon, Microsoft was one of the first to start the work on updates specifically supposed to make its software feel at home on devices powered by the M1 chip.
However, given the adoption of Microsoft Teams has skyrocketed in the last couple of years, Microsoft clearly wanted to make sure everything was working exactly as expected. This is probably the reason it took the company so long to complete the work on this front.
“With more than 115M daily active users, Teams has become a critical part of the way many people are navigating the current situation. Teams allows you to meet, chat, call, and collaborate all in a single app. And, when people work in Teams, they all get the full breadth and depth of Microsoft 365. Microsoft Teams is currently available in Rosetta emulation mode on Macs with M1 and the browser. We are working on universal app support for M1 Macs and will share more news as our work progresses,” the company said back in December 2020.
You can find the updated Microsoft Teams client for Apple Silicon on Microsoft’s page here.