10 Things we love about the Teams mobile app
Published Oct 03 2019 08:00 AM 147K Views
Microsoft

We at Microsoft know that work is not limited to sitting at a desk with a computer. We are constantly on the go, getting work done from coffee shops, the airport, the couch, and while commuting. And for those in certain lines of work, like retail, healthcare, or many service industries, your phone may be your primary or only device! This is why the Teams experience on your phone is just as crucial as the experience you have on your desktop. We have a whole team at Microsoft focused on optimizing your Teams mobile experience and building features to make your busy lives easier.

 

And it’s not just us who love the Teams mobile app. Not to brag… but Teams is a top-rated productivity app on both the App Store (4.8) and   Play store (4.6). There are many reasons to love Teams mobile, but here are a few of our favorites.

 

1. Quiet hours & quiet days

It is important to set personal boundaries and optimize your work hours in the way that works best for you and your job. But when we work with teams of people who are spread across time zones, and have different work styles and job duties, there is often someone on our team who is working at all hours of the day. On Teams mobile, you can set “Quiet Hours” (for example, 7PM to 7AM) and “Quiet Days”(for example, Saturday and Sunday) This feature helps you take control over your after-work time and can help relieve stress.

quiet hours mobile gif.gif

 

2. Share content in a meeting from your cell phone

This feature is a lifesaver when you are away from your desk but still need to present content in a meeting or call. On Teams mobile you can present PowerPoint slides, videos, photos, or even share your phone screen to show someone exactly what you are looking at on your phone.

share content mobile gif.gif

 

3. Transfer a call from your laptop to your phone

Have you ever had to drop off an important conference call in order to rush to your next appointment, or make sure you would be home in time for dinner? Teams makes it a seamless experience to transfer a call from your PC to your mobile device (or vice versa) without interrupting the flow of your meeting, so you can finish your work while also getting where you need to go (feature coming soon). 

transfer call mobile gif.gif

 

4. Audio messages

The ability to send audio messages in a chat is a fantastic alternative to typing and is often preferred by people in regions where multiple dialects are spoken. You can send a message when you are on the go, walking or are even cooking. And unlike text, a voice message can help lend your unique personality and tone to the message.

audio messages mobile gif.gif

 

5. Dark mode

Like the much loved “dark mode” in Windows File Explorer, Office applications, and Teams on your desktop, the Teams mobile app is available in dark mode! Dark mode is a great option for low light environments, reduces strain on some people’s eyes, and is a great battery saver.

darkmode mobile gif.gif

 

6. Integrated Office lens
Using our phones to take and share pictures is already a powerful tool but using the Office Lens through Teams takes it to the next level. The Office Lens recognizes when you are taking a photo of a whiteboard or a document and optimizes the picture for that medium— even straightening out the document, or making the whiteboard writing show up more clearly. And you can annotate images with text or by drawing on the image with your finger.

office lense mobile gif.gif

 

7. Re-ordering the bottom bar

Today, our phones often feel like an extension of ourselves; and the ability to customize how your phone is set up is crucial. You can customize your bottom navigation bar with the tools that make the most sense for you, to give you ready access to the tools you need.

reorder 2 gif.gif

 

8. Share Location

The beauty of using Teams on your mobile device is that you can truly be productive while on-the-go and in between working locations. When you are on-site with a customer or en route to a job site you can easily share your physical location with your manager from your Teams mobile app. This is especially important for those in service roles or who need check-in documentation to certain job sites. And since this is done through the Teams mobile app it is secure and compliant.

share location mobile gif.gif

 

9. Triage your notifications with a quick swipe

It’s great to be able to get a jump start on our day before you even get into the office, which is why we love the ability to swipe to mark messages and notifications as read/unread with one easy gesture. Because as we know, there is a big difference between a casual chat conversation that you read on your way into work, and a notification with several items you will need to follow up on.

activity feed mobile gif.gif

 

10. Easily swap shifts with a co-worker from your phone

When you are a Firstline Worker, something as simple as figuring out your weekly schedule can be a major headache. Instead of having to take a picture of a paper schedule in the break room, manually add your shifts to your own calendar, and then track down the phone number of your co-worker you need to swap shifts with, use Shifts in Teams to manage your schedule and keep in touch with your team! Whether you are a manager creating your team’s schedule, or just trying to remember when you are scheduled to work this week, Shifts in Teams has you covered. Learn more here.

shift.png

 

If you already use Teams, make sure you have the Teams mobile app installed on your phone to take advantage of all these great features and more.

 

Find Teams:

App Store and   Play store

 

If you are not yet a Teams user, get started with Microsoft Teams today!

15 Comments
Silver Contributor

I hope there is an option to hide read notifications.

Microsoft

Good one team! I picked up a couple of tips... thank you

Brass Contributor

Nice ! Now all I need is a way to automatically stop notifications when I'm on vacation =)

Copper Contributor

Nice list, I love it when I can learn a new trick! 

Copper Contributor

@Marissa Salazar  - On #3, is that an iOS only option?  I can't get that to work on the Android app.  I get the option to Join, which drops me directly into the meeting (as it typically has in the past).

Otherwise, thanks!  This is definitely something I plan to share with my users.

Edit:  I now see that the article has been updated to show "Feature coming soon".

Iron Contributor

I’d love it even more if search was more like desktop version.

 

Also - ”semi mobile thoughts”, the iPadOS app should really get more desktop like functionallity.

 

But overall - I really feel that the mobile app is sufficient from a consumer/presenter view. But from the contribution/admin view, there are things missing.

Copper Contributor

Just need to be able to present using Live Meetings now. Could have used it the other day!

Copper Contributor

Hello @Marissa Salazar:

 

I've been using teams for some time (for Windows and IOS) and honestly speaking I don't think it's such a great app. For writen colaboration Outlook is years light from Teams. But to your point here's my straight forward feedback:

 

  • Quiet hours: this is a native functionality that comes with most phones. Why would you want each app to have this setting individually?
  • Share Content: On IOS you can't share using the native share option that comes with the phone. You can with OneNote, you can't with Teams. Amazing that is a beloved feature. 
  • Transfer calls from the laptop to the phone: great feature. Skype (with enterprise voice) has has this for the last 6 o 7 years!! 
  • Audio messages and share location: ok, nice copy paste from whatsap's decade old functionality.
  • Dark mode: Apple is forcing all apps to support dark mode since their OS supports it. Thank's Apple!!
  • Office lens: this is a true great app that's been around for quite some time. Nice that you took care to integrate it.
  • Reorder the bottom bar: Awesome. I've never seen anything like that.
  • Triage your notifications with a quick swipe: Apples' native email client has had this for the last decade.

I might sound somewhat biased but after feeling all the pressue comming from Microsoft to have everyone adopting such a lousy app I actually think I'm not biased but rather everyone else is. Teams has a long way to become a usefull tool that replaces email. Just my 2 cents. 

Copper Contributor

Marissa

 

Nice article. Teams is a great product and will cut down on the total misuse of email that so many companies face everyday. I don't see this as a email replacement,  just an alternative way to communicate and collaborate. Change management is the biggest hurdle!

I noticed there were a few comments on functions not working on iOS. from an Android perspective, the functionality works great. 

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Copper Contributor

7. Re-ordering the bottom bar

This was working great last week but this week the Edit option is gone on? Is it just me? iOS v1.0.90 Build 1.077.2019112904 (general)

Iron Contributor

I'd really like to see more training on Teams mobile and how the experiences between Teams desktop changes when you use your mobile device.

 

Big fan of being able to share slides with others on your mobile device. Way to go! 

Brass Contributor

These are nice additions but something so basic as uploading files to a folder in Teams is still missing:

 

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/33941935-upload-files-into-dir...

 

This blocks any interesting mobile user content creation scenarios (taking site photos, mobile document management and more).

Iron Contributor

Number 3 is a feature that still doesn’t exist almost half a year after this article was written. It should not be included in your top 10. 

Copper Contributor

Hi. I’m enjoying the channel feature. So useful while interacting with team on various topics. Great tool for structured communication 

Copper Contributor

Basic functions like forwarding multiple messages at once isn´t available.

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