Microsoft introduces new features in Teams to connect users with friends and family – now available in mobile preview

New features designed for personal life begin to roll out in preview to the Microsoft Teams mobile app today

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach^[1] - 23 June 2020 - Microsoft today announced new Teams features that extends beyond work life to personal life. The new features are designed to alleviate the need for disparate tools and instead, offer one central hub for individuals, groups, and families to collaborate, stay connected and organized.

Users can expect to connect, collaborate, and jointly organize their lives across work groups, friends, and family. The new features start to roll out in preview to the Teams mobile app today and will be fully rolled out in the coming weeks.

"We are using multiple apps and tools--both online and offline--such as calendars, email, messaging, photo apps, to-do lists, and documents to manage it all. Every day more people love what Teams does for them because it is the hub for teamwork that lets you chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place. And while Teams is great for work, we believe it can help everyone better manage their responsibilities across work and personal life. With these new features, we hope to extend the power of Teams to your personal life whether you're managing daily family life or just trying to stay connected and in sync with those who matter most," said Rami El Bayadi, Regional Director, Microsoft Office Asia.

With the new features, Microsoft hopes to provide users one app that seamlessly manages work and personal life as well as staying connected with those who matter most. Microsoft Teams will now provide the tools for users to manage daily life; share grocery lists, organize across family calendars, safely store important information like Wi-Fi passwords and account info, and even see location updates when loved ones arrive home or at other locations like work or school.

• Stay connected with text chat and video calling: Microsoft Teams will become the messaging hub for all personal chats and video and voice calls, with fun features like sharing GIFs, photos, videos, documents, and even location already integrated. Users can create groups to chat and call, to stay connected with family and friends.
• Keep everyone on the same page and pick up where they left off: Users will be able to stay organized by sharing lists, documents, and calendars all within the group dashboard. Microsoft Teams will allow users to easily go back and see the chats, tasks, pictures, videos, and group calendars shared within the dashboard, providing a great way to pick up conversations or projects where they left off.
• Collaborate and share important documents efficiently and securely: Microsoft Teams integrates with other Microsoft 365 apps so users can easily share from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint right from within the Teams app. All documents are also stored on OneDrive and users can now access these documents across other devices - whether it is for planning a family budget or preparing kids' schedules.
• Easily share location and information: Location sharing* is now available as part of these new personal features as well, making it easier for users to share their location and find their friends.

Microsoft Teams will also come with a Safe, which lets users securely store and share important information, like passwords, rewards numbers, or login information. Users can easily share this information directly from the Teams app with families and friends, all backed by the security of two-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption.

To get started on the preview, users can simply use their Microsoft Teams mobile app at work and add in their personal account. Users will then be able to toggle between their personal and work accounts. New users can also visit the app store on iOS or Android to download the mobile app and sign up with a personal Microsoft account, or create a new one with their phone number. General availability of the new features, as well as expanding features to the desktop and web versions of Teams, is expected later this year.

For more information, visit the website to get the preview^[2] or find out more about these new features on our blog^[3].

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} get the preview (www.microsoft.com)
3. ^{^} blog (www.microsoft.com)