Microsoft has released a unified Teams app that supports personal, work, and education accounts, instead of separate desktop apps for home and work.
People like me who use Teams at home and at work for our personal and professional projects have always wondered why there couldn’t be a monolithic Teams app. “Previously, there were two Teams apps on Windows 11 – one for work or education and another for personal use,” the company said. It wasn’t ideal that Microsoft had to create and maintain two different Teams apps. Now, the two Teams apps have been merged into one. “We’re excited to share that the unified Teams app is available today on Windows 11, Windows 10, and Mac,” the company announced.
Your work, personal, and school chats and interactions are now available in the new app, separated by side-by-side windows. You don’t need to do anything if you already have the Teams desktop app installed on your computer—it will automatically grab the latest update that adds support for all account types.
“All users, including Windows 10 and Mac users, can now connect and collaborate with anyone, anytime, for free when they sign up with a personal email address,” the company said. These include communities similar to Facebook groups or large group chats. Click your profile picture in the top right to add, remove, manage, and switch between account types.
But wait, there’s more. With a single Teams app now managing multiple account types, Microsoft now lets you set your preferred default account when joining a Teams meeting. And last but not least, you can now use Teams in guest mode.
Teams used to be a resource hog until a 2023 update brought significantly faster performance and a Windows 11-like design. At one point, Microsoft tried to give Teams a permanent shortcut in the Windows taskbar, but removed it after backlash. The software was also part of Microsoft 365 for years, but is now sold to businesses separately from the Microsoft 365 package.
You can download the latest Teams desktop app from Microsoft’s website. Teams for Android is available from the Play Store, and Teams for iPhone and iPad is available from the App Store.
Source: Microsoft Teams Blog, Microsoft Experience Blog
