Microsoft Retires Teams Together Mode on June 30, Pointing Users to Gallery View

Microsoft has announced that Teams Together mode will be discontinued on June 30, 2026. This feature, which placed meeting participants in shared virtual spaces like auditoriums, classrooms, or conference rooms, will no longer be available after that date. Users will need to switch to the standard scalable gallery view or attend meetings in person instead.

Custom scenes and seat assignments will also be removed when Together mode is phased out. Organizations that previously used these features for branded virtual environments will need to adopt branded backgrounds, which are still supported.

Why Is Microsoft Removing Together Mode?

Together mode was introduced in 2020 during the early stages of widespread remote work, aiming to make video calls feel more natural by placing participants in a shared virtual space instead of separate video tiles.

Microsoft notes that the meeting landscape has evolved since then, with many companies returning to in-person work and Teams introducing new features such as an expanded gallery view.

According to a Microsoft blog post, the company is retiring Together mode to simplify the meeting experience and allow engineering resources to focus on improvements that benefit all Teams meetings.

Microsoft explains that the variety of meeting view options has increased cognitive load for users and caused experience fragmentation across devices. The company expects this change to result in fewer clicks, smoother meetings, and faster development of new features.

Recommended Alternatives and What They Mean in Practice?

Microsoft recommends several existing Teams features for users who want to maintain some of the social cues that Together mode provided. These include pinning speakers to keep specific attendees visible, spotlighting presenters to emphasize the active speaker, using multiple displays to keep gallery views and content side by side, and applying branded backgrounds for a consistent visual environment across meetings.

Anyone currently using Together mode for recurring meetings should plan to switch to the gallery view or one of the recommended alternatives before June 30. Custom scenes created or licensed by some organizations will no longer work after that date, and any scheduling templates set to default to Together mode should be updated.

Microsoft has not stated whether elements of Together mode might return in a different form. The retirement appears to be part of an ongoing effort to streamline the Teams meeting interface, rather than a temporary change.

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