What you need to know
- Microsoft rolled out several new features for the free version of Teams.
- The desktop version of the app has an improved way of showing app badges and the ability to share videos with a community.
- Teams (free) for mobile made it easier to share content and added new safeguards against harmful content within communities.
Microsoft Teams (free) gained a list of features last month. In March 2023, the app made it easier to identify notifications, added support for playing videos with communities, and improved the experience for inviting people to meetings through SMS.
The mobile version of Teams (free) also gained a few new options. Sharing content through the native sharing options is now supported. You can also accept invites to communities within the app.
Here’s everything that’s new, as outlined by Microsoft (opens in new tab):
Improvements for app badging (Windows 11)
You won’t miss anything now that we have improved the way new content is shown in Windows 11 Chat and Teams on Windows 11. When you see the little red dot on taskbar, you will find something new in the app. It might even be information about new features under the three dots menu in the top right-hand corner as ‘What’s new’ when using Windows 11 Chat.
Shared videos now playing in communities
When somebody shares a video in a community, it now plays beautifully inline within the community.
Inviting people to meetings via SMS
When scheduling a new meeting in Teams (free) on Windows 11, you can now just put a phone number as a recipient, and they will receive a meeting invite via SMS including a meeting link to join the meeting. Learn more about scheduling meetings in Teams (free) (opens in new tab)
High fives all around (Windows 11)
Using the (highfive) emoji is fun and it has recently become even more fun. You can try this with your contacts, and you will see something cool in Teams (free) on Windows 11. Learn more about available emojis in Teams (free) (opens in new tab)
Easier sharing to communities
It’s now easier to share content to communities using the native sharing options on your mobile phone. When you want to share something, your recent communities are shown, and you can just pick one to share the content to.
Safeguards in communities
Your communities are now protected by safeguards against potentially harmful or malicious content. Automated mechanisms will remove such content and will leave behind just a placeholder indicating removed content.
Acceptance for community invites
When a community owner invites you to their community, you will now see the invite in the app and can then decide whether to accept it.
Microsoft unveiled a new version of Microsoft Teams last month. The revamped Teams is up to twice as fast as its predecessor while using less RAM.
