Preview of new Microsoft Teams for Mac Client starts in September

This month, Microsoft is launching a public preview of its revamped Teams client for Mac, focusing on improved performance and efficiency.

The new Microsoft Teams desktop app replaces the resource-intensive Electron framework with Microsoft’s WebView2 technology, resulting in a faster and less memory-intensive application. The new Teams client will be available on Mac devices running macOS Big Sur (11) or higher.

At the end of this month, Microsoft is preparing to release the public preview of its revamped Teams client for macOS. The revamped Microsoft Teams for Mac aims for better performance and efficiency, trading the resource-intensive Electron framework for Microsoft’s WebView2 technology.

Microsoft launched a significant revamp of its Teams app in a public preview on Windows in March 2023. The current Teams client is built on the Electron framework, which is notorious for its resource usage and poor performance. Since its launch, Microsoft has continuously worked on improvements for Teams to reduce RAM and CPU usage, especially on older or less powerful hardware.

Fortunately, Microsoft has now dropped Electron and switched to WebView2 technology instead. The primary goal of the new Microsoft Teams desktop client was to make it faster and less resource-intensive. Microsoft claims the app is twice as fast and uses 50 percent less memory compared to the previous version. It also supports new AI-powered features, collaboration between multiple tenants and seamless switching between different tenants and accounts.

“With multi-tenant organization (MTO), users in organizations that manage employees across multiple tenants can search for colleagues in another tenant, have a single chat thread with other users, receive real-time notifications, conduct meetings and calls in another tenant, and multitask from their home tenant,” Microsoft explained at the Microsoft 365 admin center.

New Microsoft Teams for Mac Client to launch in Preview This Month

How to try the new Microsoft Teams for Mac client

Once rolled out, macOS users will see a “Try the new Teams toggle” within the classic Microsoft Teams app (version 1.6.00.12303 or higher). It will be available in preview on Mac devices running macOS Big Sur (11) or higher. This change will apply to tenants where the UseNewTeamsClient is configured to Microsoft default.

The new Microsoft Teams for Mac will support all features available in the Windows client except Green Screen, Cameo and NDI. Microsoft Teams users can return to the classic app at any time with the same toggle button.

The user experience will still be familiar and easy to navigate, although this new update promises significant improvements regarding performance and efficiency.

Since this update is currently still in the preview phase, Microsoft encourages users to provide feedback so that the Teams for Mac client can be further tuned and improved for the official release.

With this new update, Microsoft remains committed to providing a superior user experience across all platforms, and the ongoing improvements and updates to Teams are a testament to this commitment. Whether you are an individual user or part of a large organization, Microsoft Teams for Mac works hard to meet your productivity needs and improve your ability to communicate and collaborate efficiently.

Stay informed

Make sure you stay on top of all Microsoft Teams updates and improvements by regularly visiting the official Microsoft 365 admin center and signing up for newsletters and updates. Also take advantage of this preview phase for the new Teams client for macOS to get ahead of the game and familiarize yourself with all the new features and improvements. Although some features may be missing compared to the Windows client, this formidable update gives users hope for a more streamlined and improved Microsoft Teams experience on Mac devices, increasing productivity and ease of use. Remember to share your experiences and feedback with Microsoft so they can continue to make and improve these updates for you and the rest of the Teams community.