Microsoft Teams is retiring Together mode, and I’ll miss the quirky feature
Microsoft is retiring Together mode in Teams, discontinuing the unique meeting feature introduced during the pandemic to combat remote work isolation. The feature will be retired on June 30, after which Teams users will be limited to traditional gallery view or in-person meetings.
Together mode, launched in 2020, placed all meeting participants in a shared virtual environment rather than displaying them in separate tiles, creating a more natural and cohesive meeting experience that mimicked being in the same physical space. The feature was developed to address a core challenge of remote work: the feeling of disconnection and lack of presence.
Microsoft’s decision to retire Together mode reflects shifting priorities as offices reopen and hybrid work becomes established. The gallery view that will replace it offers better scalability for larger meetings but returns to the traditional grid-based layout. The retirement marks a broader retreat from experimental pandemic-era features, with the company prioritizing more practical viewing options over novelty features with niche use cases.