What you need to know
- Several consumer-focused features are rolling out to Microsoft Teams in preview.
- The features include the ability to share documents, locations, calendars, and lists.
- The features are rolling out over the coming weeks to iOS and Android.
Microsoft Teams users have some new preview features to play with in the mobile versions of Microsoft Teams. Microsoft announced that several new consumer-focused Teams features are now available in preview in a blog post earlier today. The new features aim to let people collaborate, communicate, and organize things within a single app rather than having to jump between apps.
The new consumer-focused features aren't part of a new version of Teams. Instead, they're available on the already-released Teams mobile apps on iOS and Android. To test out these new features, you can add an account to Microsoft Teams through the app's settings. You can create a new account with a phone number or with a personal Microsoft account. You can switch back and forth between accounts within the Teams app, so if you have Teams for work and Teams for your family, you can access both within the same app.
Here are the new features that are currently rolling out in preview:
- Messaging and video calling
- Sharing lists
- Sharing documents
- Sharing calendars
- Sharing locations
- Storing passwords and information in Teams Safe
As reported by ZDNet, Microsoft plans to keep these consumer features free, at least for now. Microsoft hasn't ruled out adding certain features that require a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription, but that isn't the case right now. A Microsoft spokesperson also told ZDNet that Microsoft is planning to add these consumer-focused features to the desktop Microsoft Teams app and the web version of Teams later this year.
The new features are rolling out now, so you might not see them immediately. Microsoft's blog post states that they should fully roll out in the coming weeks.
Microsoft Teams allows you to collaborate with colleagues, upload files, send messages, and chat through video. It integrates with Office 365 and several other cloud services.
