Microsoft Teams is finally optimized to run native on Apple Silicon

More than two years after Apple announced its transition from Intel to Apple Silicon for the Mac, Microsoft Teams is finally being updated to run native on those Macs. The company announced this rollout in a blog post, saying it is “committed to innovation and committed to the Mac.”

Somewhat shockingly, even two years late, Microsoft says this update will be rolled out to customers “in increments” over the next few months. So even if you have Microsoft Teams running on an Apple Silicon Mac, you won’t necessarily receive this update anytime soon.

Once the update reaches your Microsoft Teams app, however, the company says you can expect a “significant performance boost” and improvements in efficiency. Microsoft wrote the following in a blog post published today:

We are rolling out a production-quality universal binary version of Teams, which means it will run native on the entire Mac lineup, including those with Apple silicon. For Mac users, this means a significant performance improvement, ensuring efficient use of device resources and an optimized Teams experience, even when using multiple high-resolution monitors during calls or meetings.

Microsoft is committed to innovation and committed to the Mac, so we are excited to bring this to our Mac users. All Mac users will be automatically upgraded with their most recent update to Teams. The publicly available (GA) version of the native Teams app on Mac with Apple silicon will be rolled out to customers in increments over the next few months.

Microsoft began beta testing a version of Teams optimized for Apple Silicon in April. As a refresher, Macs powered by Apple Silicon can run three different types of applications:

• iPhone and iPad apps on the Mac from the Mac App Store
• Apps running through The Rosetta 2 translation, which allows users to run apps made for Intel Macs on Apple Silicon, with apps sometimes performing better in Rosetta with M1 than with Intel, Apple says
• Universal apps are apps built for Apple Silicon and Intel processors and can be downloaded from the Mac App Store or from the Internet.

Once fully available, this new version of Microsoft Teams will be a “universal” binary, meaning the same version can run natively on Macs with Apple Silicon and Intel machines. Maybe you should just wait a few months before it hits your devices.

Source: 9to5mac