A brand new Microsoft Teams desktop app, which is web-based, is coming

Microsoft’s tools have gone through a series of changes in recent years. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) will become an important part of the Windows app ecosystem in the future, and Microsoft is betting heavily on them.

The latest is a new Progressive Web App for Microsoft Teams offered for low-end or lightweight devices.

Microsoft Teams’ new desktop client is based on Microsoft Edge (Chromium) WebView and you can use the communication tool in its own separate window that eliminates the address bar of your browser. It will also hide other controls such as the extension, music bar and menu.

This new app is known internally as ‘Microsoft Teams Alpha’ and is said to be ‘secure’. It was designed with an “always up-to-date nature” in mind, as well as a simplified implementation, according to sources.

Microsoft Teams PWA is also expected to provide “better charging performance” and will support all desktop platforms, but it won’t be able to replace the current Electron app anytime soon.

As you can see in the screenshot above of Task Manager processes, Microsoft Teams Alpha uses Microsoft Edge WebView, which confirms the PWA connection.

Note that Microsoft Teams Alpha is not fully web-based and supports all Windows 10 features, including native notifications.

The new Teams app can be very useful for low-end devices, especially for students or frontline workers.

Performance improvements from Microsoft Teams

In addition to a new app, Microsoft is also working on a major update to the current Teams desktop client, which is built on the Electron platform.

According to a forum post, Microsoft Teams is expected to run smoother and faster as the company plans to reduce memory and CPU usage. The Redmond firm has confirmed that these are active performance issues with Teams and that improvements are coming for Windows 10 and macOS.

However, it’s unclear when these changes will go live, and there’s also no ETA available on when Microsoft will announce the new Teams experience.

Source: windowslatest