In a somewhat surprising decision, Microsoft announced plans to retire the Together mode feature for Teams meetings in June 2026. Based on personal experience, it didn’t seem that many people used Together mode. It seemed like it was something that people tried a couple of times before giving up. Maybe it’s just the meetings I attend, but I haven’t seen Together mode used in years.
The Nostalgia set of Teams background images includes Office Clippy, the famous Bliss image used for the Windows XP desktop, and images of Paint and Solitaire. These are only part of the wide selection of suitable images to use as background effects in Teams meetings. And if you’ve got a great image to share, you can upload it to the Microsoft Gallery for others to use.
Together Mode is a more immersive way to present participants in a Teams meeting. The original theater scene is being augmented with new scenes including boardrooms (suitable for small meetings) and amphitheaters (for large meetings). At the same time, the view used for Teams meeting recordings is changing from 2×2 to 3×3.