Finally, after being in preview mode for quite some time, the personal features for Microsoft Teams are now available for people worldwide on all major platforms.
Microsoft Teams Is Bringing Friends and Family Closer Together
In a post on the Microsoft blog, the company has announced that you can now use Microsoft Teams not only for business or educational purposes but also for personal ones. The new features allow you to call, chat, connect, and make plans with friends and family.
One-on-one personal video calls are free and with no limitations on their duration. Even though there are some limitations for group calls, they are being waived in the light of COVID-19. So you can even hold a virtual wedding, if you want to, with up to 300 people on Microsoft Teams.
You can make personal group calls to communicate with the ones that are most important to you. If you miss such a call, you can always catch up later or read the group's chat since it doesn't disappear after the call.
To make family video group calls more fun, you can try out the Together mode. With its help, you can make your personal video calls look like you're meeting in a virtual cafe or any other virtual space.
You can also conduct polls, add group events, and assign tasks to chat participants. Moreover, through Dashboard, you can quickly access all of the information related to the chats, such as shared files, photos, and tasks.
All you need to do to access these features is to download Microsoft Teams on your device or open its site on any web browser. Microsoft Teams is available on all major platforms: iOS, Android, or desktop.
Is Microsoft Trying to Replace Skype?
The tech company hasn't yet given out any details about whether it plans to replace Skype with Microsoft Teams completely. But since Microsoft has already set the retirement date for Skype for Business Online, it's quite possible that soon Skype will be merged into Teams.