Microsoft Teams won’t put everyone in a virtual room anymore — no more Together-ness
Source: Mashable Tech
Microsoft Teams is losing a feature that was launched during the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
According to Microsoft, the company is saying “goodbye” to Together mode and moving to a simpler layout experience.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a cloud‑based communication and collaboration platform that many businesses use as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. In addition to messaging and file‑sharing features, Teams provides video‑conferencing capabilities similar to Zoom.
The Rise of Together mode
In the summer of 2020, when remote work was at an all‑time high amid the COVID‑19 pandemic, Microsoft rolled out Together mode to help users “feel like you’re sitting in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class.” The feature removed each participant’s background and placed them in a shared virtual room, giving the impression that everyone was in the same space.
Why Together mode is being removed
Microsoft cites several reasons for discontinuing the feature:
- It increases cognitive load for users.
- It fragments the meeting experience across desktop, web, mobile, and Teams Rooms.
- It adds implementation complexity across platforms.
The company also notes that the core need Together mode was designed to address—seeing the people who matter in a meeting—can now be fully met by the modern Gallery view, which can display up to 49 participants at once.
What’s next for video meetings in Teams?
Microsoft Teams will now focus on Gallery mode as the primary view option for video conferencing. This traditional boxed view, popularized by Zoom, aims to:
- Simplify the meeting interface.
- Deliver higher and more stable video quality across meetings.
- Free up service capacity that can be reinvested into foundational video improvements.
In addition to removing Together mode, Microsoft is also discontinuing scenes and custom scenes, including seat assignments.