Microsoft releases lighter version of Teams for Windows and macOS

Microsoft has released a revamped Teams desktop app for all users on Windows and macOS. The company says the app’s RAM consumption has been halved and promises that the Teams app will run faster.

The new Teams app has according to Microsoft improved performance and takes up less disk space. Microsoft writes that the updated Teams is “twice as fast, while using fifty percent less memory” on Windows computers.

This is due to the switch from Electron’s client, which is also used for Discord and Slack, to Microsoft’s own Webview2. The native client uses many of the same system files as the Edge browser, which comes standard in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Electron and WebView2 are both based on Chromium. However, an Electron app has its own versions of the browser files, which must be stored and updated separately.

Mac users will probably benefit slightly less from the updated app, because macOS does not have WebView2 files as standard. Still, Microsoft says that performance in the macOS version of Teams should be better from now on, such as switching channels and “when using different high-resolution monitors during calls.”

Furthermore, users have access to all the features that the old app has. Features that were also available in the preview version have also been added, such as breakout rooms and support for third-party apps.

Users of the old Teams app can automatically switch to the new version via a button in the top left corner. All users of the current Teams app will be upgraded to the new app ‘in the coming months’. In the coming months, all users will be migrated to the new version of Teams.

Source: Microsoft