Microsoft Teams: Access work, school, and personal accounts in a single desktop app

Originally posted by Microsoft Feb 27, 2024 Uncategorized 0 Comments

Starting in April 2024, Microsoft Teams desktop app on Windows and Mac will allow users to access any type of Teams account (work, school, or personal) and admins can control their users’ sign-in capabilities with group policies. Users will be able to add and access their additional accounts in the upper right corner of Teams by selecting their profile picture. Teams personal account users can connect and collaborate with the people and groups in their life through Communities in Teams by adding a personal Microsoft account (MSA). The Teams taskbar might look different for users who have Teams Free (for personal use) on their system, because the updated Teams app will attempt to take the place of their taskbar pin. Admins should review their Teams sign-in restriction policies for their users and devices to prepare for a seamless update to new Teams.

If your organization does not support Mac desktops, you can ignore this message.

Starting in April 2024 and rolling out gradually, the Microsoft Teams desktop app on Windows and Mac will let you use any type of Teams account (work, school, or personal). As in classic Teams, admins can control their users’ sign-in capabilities with group policies.

Users will be able to add and access their additional accounts in the upper right corner of Teams by selecting their profile picture. Teams personal account users can connect and collaborate with the people and groups in their life through Communities in Teams by adding a personal Microsoft account (MSA). (How to create an MSA).

With this capability, we are also introducing changes to how you join meetings. Teams will allow users to view or change the identity that they want to use for meetings, right on the meeting pre-join screen. These changes follow all meeting privacy and security policies. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 383006.

When this will happen:

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by mid-April 2024.

Worldwide: We will begin rolling out mid-April 2024, and expect to complete by late June 2024. Users of Teams Free (Teams for personal use) will begin to see this update earlier than Teams (work or school) users. 

How this will affect your organization:

• Users will be automatically updated to this experience through a routine Teams update.
• For users who are already using new Teams, no new application download is required and no changes to Teams (work or school) except for the new feature rolling out.
• For users that are still on classic Teams, admins must enable app installs and updates to update users to new Teams. 
• The name of the Microsoft Teams (for work or school) app will change to Microsoft Teams. 
• Users will no longer need a separate Teams application on Windows 11 devices to access personal accounts.
• If possible, we may try to uninstall Teams Free (Teams for personal use) from Windows 11 devices as part of this update, since users can use their personal accounts in the new Teams app. Note: Teams Free (for personal use) will not be removed from users on Windows 10 and Mac.

What you need to do to prepare:

• To prepare for a seamless update to new Teams, admins should review their Teams sign in restriction polices for their users and devices. The MSA sign in capability will follow these policies, as it did in previous versions of Teams.
• You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
• With this update, the Teams taskbar might look different for users who have Teams Free (for personal use) on their system, because the updated Teams app will attempt to take the place of their taskbar pin.
• For users that are still on classic Teams, admins must enable app installs and updates to update users to new Teams. 
• Learn more about Microsoft Teams Communities | Microsoft Teams
• Users who are on Windows 11 versions older than Windows 11 2023 Update (also known as Windows 11, version 23H2) will not receive this new feature rolling out. After users update to Windows 11 23H2, the new feature will be enabled, and Teams will attempt to remove Teams Free (for personal use).
• This feature does not apply to users of Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

Message ID: MC719659