Microsoft Teams Is Dropping Its Unique Together Meeting Mode
Microsoft Teams will discontinue its Together mode feature, which aimed to create a more communal video call experience. Launched in July 2020, Together mode allowed users to appear in a shared virtual setting. The removal is part of Microsoft's effort to enhance user experience and focus on foundational video improvements.
- ▪Together mode will be removed from Microsoft Teams by June 30, 2026.
- ▪The feature was designed to make video calls feel more community-like by placing users in a virtual scene together.
- ▪Microsoft aims to simplify the user experience and improve backend performance with this change.
3 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 16 hours. All of the coverage we found sits in one bucket: centre. That one-sidedness is itself worth noticing.
- ▪ Microsoft is retiring the Together Mode in Teams in favor of something cleaner and simpler — Digital Trends
- ▪ Microsoft is retiring Teams’ Together Mode — The Verge
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| Original publisher | PCMag |
| Canonical URL | https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-teams-is-dropping-its-unique-together-meeting-mode |
| Publication time | Mon, 18 May 26 11:35:19 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-18T11:59:56.454Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-18T11:59:56.454Z |
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| Cluster | 2lJu0cGpISJj · 3 stories |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Microsoft Teams will soon remove Together mode, a feature designed to make your video calls feel more community-like. Together mode first launched in July 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many companies were switching to remote work for the first time. Microsoft introduced the tool to let employees sit in a virtual scene together rather than viewing a grid of standard webcams. The cutouts of each person were then placed in a setting, such as a theater or a coffee shop, to make it look like you’re at a real location, to help break up the mundanity of conferencing tools.You needed at least four people to activate Together mode, although it briefly tested one-on-one calls, and it could support up to 49 people at a time.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at PCMag.
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