Microsoft Teams is already pretty familiar to those who work in companies that are using it to keep in touch with team members that are working remotely. But Microsoft also wants its users to use these tools as they continue to catch up with friends and family members that are still socially distanced during these times. So now they are adding personal features to Teams, bringing free audio and video calls as well as other productivity features that can be useful for personal purposes.
These Microsoft Teams personal features are now available for desktop, mobile, and web so whatever device your friend or relative is using, they’ll be able to use the tools and interact with everyone who is on your “team”. For video calls, Together mode is also now available for personal use. It takes each person on the call and places them together in a shared virtual environment. You can be in a family lounge, a coffee shop, and a beach resort to help you avoid video call fatigue.
You can also now use live emoji reactions and GIFs during the call to make it even more interactive. And even when the video call is over, you can continue chatting, catching up on the thread, and carry on the conversation. You can also now create shared to-do lists and tasks within your group chats. Messages can be converted into tasks, check off things that are done, and soon, you’ll also be able to do polls to help make decisions.
Adding people on a chat group or thread is also easy and you can add people that are not on Teams and let them respond through SMS. For video calls, links can be shared with anyone as well, even those that don’t use Teams. They can use any device or web browser to join in. There is a dashboard where you can see all your group’s shared content like photos, files, web links, shared tasks, and upcoming events.
These personal features (except for polls which will come soon) are now available for free. For those who are already using Microsoft Teams for work, you can add a personal account by clicking on your profile.
