👋 Farewell: Together mode in Teams meetings (June 2026)

Hey Reader,

What's Changing

If you've been using Together mode in Microsoft Teams meetings, the one where everyone appears together in a shared virtual space like an auditorium or coffee shop, that option is being removed. From June 2026, the Together mode button will disappear from your meeting view menu and custom scenes will go with it. Gallery view, the standard multi-person tile layout, will be the default way to see everyone in a call.

What's in it for You

1. A cleaner, faster meeting experience: Gallery view loads quickly and is optimised across all Teams clients, so fewer rendering issues and dropped layouts mid-meeting.
2. More control over who you see: Pin a speaker, use spotlight to highlight a presenter, or let the active speaker view do the work for you.
3. Less distraction, more focus: Without the novelty of virtual spaces, meetings tend to get back on track faster and feel more professional.
4. Better for everyone in the room: Gallery view works consistently whether your team is on desktop, mobile, or joining from a browser.
5. Future-proof meetings: Microsoft is putting its development energy into the gallery experience, which means improvements and new features are coming there first.

Who it's Changing For

Primary audience: Teams users who regularly use Together mode in meetings

• Impact: Medium. A familiar feature is being removed, and for some teams it has become part of their meeting culture.
• How they'll feel: A bit put out, possibly nostalgic. Some will shrug; others will genuinely miss it.

Secondary audience: All Teams users

• Impact: Low. Most people don't use Together mode and won't notice the change at all.
• How they'll feel: Unaffected, possibly curious if they receive communications about it.

IT Teams/Administrators

• Impact: Low to Medium. No admin action is needed, but helpdesk teams should expect a small wave of "where did Together mode go?" tickets.
• How they'll feel: Relieved there's nothing to configure, but aware they'll need to field some user questions.

Why It's Changing

Together mode was a creative idea during a period when remote work needed a lift, but it was always more novelty than necessity. Microsoft has decided to consolidate around gallery view as the single, well-supported default layout rather than maintain a feature that most users have moved away from. The gallery experience is where Microsoft is actively investing, which means a more reliable and better-developed meeting layout for everyone going forward.

When It's Changing

• Early June 2026: Retirement begins. Together mode starts being removed across Teams clients.
• Late June 2026: Retirement completes. Together mode and all custom scenes are fully removed for all users.
• No admin toggle or policy setting can retain or re-enable Together mode once it's gone.

If your team uses branded or custom Together mode scenes, now is the time to switch to organisation-approved background images through the Teams admin centre instead.

Remember: change succeeds when people understand not just what they must do differently, but why doing it differently serves them better.

Go well and feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Anthony

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Source: Message Centre - Message ID: MC1296478 | Published Date: 30 April 2026 | Services: Teams‎