Microsoft Corp. today announced the general availability of a new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac that promises faster speeds and lower memory usage.

The new app was announced in March and based on user feedback, is not an updated version of the previous apps but was rebuilt from the ground up. The goal was to provide a faster, simpler and more flexible experience to help users save time and work together more efficiently. The company says it’s up to two times faster than the previous app while using 50% less memory.

The new Teams includes full feature parity for almost all features, including custom line-of-business apps, third-party apps, breakout rooms, call queues, public switched telephone network calling, and contextual search in chats and channels. The new app also enhances basics in areas including reliability, security and information technology management to ensure the new app meets the evolving requirements of organizations.

Other notable features in the new app include support for cross-tenant communication and collaboration beyond organizational boundaries across multiple tenants and accounts. Multitenant organizations share a software application across multiple customers, with each customer having an isolated instance and multitenant, multi-account organizations allow each customer to have multiple accounts within the same application.

A new release wouldn’t be complete today without an injection of artificial intelligence and the new Teams app is no exception. The new app is described as “the foundation for next-generation AI experiences, such as Microsoft Copilot.”

Copilot in Teams provides assistance to users by enabling them to get up to speed on conversations, run more effective meetings and bring everything together in one place. Copilot in Teams chat can also help users get up to speed on conversations by quickly reviewing the main points, action items and decisions without having to scroll through long threads.

For customers wanting the new Microsoft Teams app, upgrading is seamless and no migration is required. Classic Teams users will be automatically upgraded to the new Teams in the coming months. For those who don’t wish to wait, the new Microsoft Teams can be installed through the menu option in the upper lefthand corner of the previous app.

Image: Microsoft