Microsoft has been testing the new version of its Teams app for Windows since March. Now there’s word that the new Teams, also known as Teams 2.0, is finally coming to the Mac PC platform very soon.
Petri reports, via a post on the private Microsoft 365 admin center site, that the public preview of the Mac client for the new Teams will be available sometime later in early September 2023. Admins who are a part of Microsoft 365’s public preview and/or its targeted release programs should see the toggle to switch from the current Teams Mac client to the new Teams Mac app in the near future.
Once the public preview for the new Teams Mac client begins, users can access it, and then switch back to the current Teams client at any time, according to Microsoft.
The main improvements in the new Microsoft Teams 2.0 come on the back end. Microsoft claims that users should see the app launch up to twice as fast compared to the current version, and also join meetings up to twice as fast as well. At the same time, the app should use up to 50 percent less memory on their Mac PC and use up to 70 percent less storage than the current edition.
Besides the performance upgrades, the new Teams will also offer other features including simplified actions to reduce the amount of clutter for things like notifications, messages, and more. Users will also be able to remain signed into the new Teams app, even if they switch to different organizations and accounts. Recently, Microsoft announced the new Teams will make it easier for users to switch between chats with different groups in the same organization.
Microsoft has stated that the new Microsoft Teams app should become generally available sometime in October 2023. Also, Anupam Pattnaik, Microsoft’s Product Lead for the revamped Teams version, stated earlier this year in a podcast interview that the new Teams will become the default version by late 2023.