Microsoft Teams progressive web app now available on Linux

I have questions and haven’t seen any solid information with answers.

1. How will this work for chats if the app isn’t running in the foreground? (Can the PWA version park in the background reasonably well?)
2. Can we have multiple Teams windows open in the PWA? 
   
   • Can we pop out individual chats in Teams so that there may be a half-dozen Teams windows open? This works on the desktop app now
   • Can meetings run in a dedicated window so that communication continues?
3. How will phone calls work? We are shifting to Teams-based VOIP at work. Can I receive a call over Teams PWA while also still communicating with my team via Chats? This works on the existing app.
4. Really, will the PWA version of Teams be as robust as the desktop versions for Windows and Mac, like the Linux client is now, or will it be a stripped down iPad-esque version that the current Teams website is, more or less?

Given that Linux users were provided with a mostly great desktop app for what is an Electron app, this feels like bait-and-switch. I suspect that this won’t affect too many users, but that the users it affects will be justifiably noisy about what I suspect will be a major feature regression.

With Teams on Linux, Microsoft essentially said “trust us, we get it, this is important.” Now that people are (sometimes reluctantly) shifting from Zoom or Slack, this feels to me like the rug is being pulled out from beneath us.

Hi all,

I tested the PWA client on Kubuntu 20.04 using chrome (Version 107.0.5304.68 (Offizieller Build) (64-Bit) / nvidia gpu - hardware acceleration enabled).

Looks good as long as I can tell after a few hours, but there are some critical points which prevents using the pwa app as default.

What I'm missing:

- critical: Notification "join meeting" is missing, when someone is starting a meeting and also there is no notification reminder, if a meeting is starting - this is not usable because I'm working with multiple desktops and have no reminder at all.

- critical: Notifications is missing with "take call" when I'm getting a call (shows only up in pwa app) - this is not usable because I'm working with multiple desktops. So I have to search all desktops to find the app?

- critical: take control over shared desktop of other user during desktop sharing not working

- major: device setting (audio, camera) only during call - missing under settings?

- major: sometimes more laggy than linux client

Since the critical points are very important to us, I would like you to ask is this a problem of my configuration, or it's still not supported?

Thank you in advance,

Roland

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Anupam_Pattnaik wrote:

The PWA also provides desktop-like app features, such as system notifications for chat and channel, a dock icon with respective controls, application auto-start, and easy access to system app permissions.

Tried in both Edge & Chrome, notifications non-functional in both. Also, no dock icon.

Notifications from other sites (Including Outlook.office.com) work correctly.

As of now the PWA is totally unusable compared to the Linux native app. Tried it in Chrome on Ubuntu 20.04 with Gnome Flashback/Compiz.

These are the most critical issues I see in the PWA:

- the sound is  a disaster, speaker/headphone volume fluctuates between barely any sound at all to almost normal (same issue with microphone)

- meeting started notifications are missing

- have not found any way to autostart the PWA

Also the  input/output sound device selections does not match what the OS displays and does not follow what is selected in OS. This goes also for the Linux native app where sometimes you have to change it when the app seems to forget last setting.

Then there are some other promised "capabilities" for the PWA that does not exist like custom backgrounds which is nice to have but not vital.

And the "make a test call" function is missing which is very useful when testing that sound and video works.

All in all, this is not a GA release, only some sort of BETA release. Until the most vital things are fixed, the PWA can not be used in a corporate environment and we have to stick to the native app where at least sound/video and notifications actually works even if some other neat features are missing.

It's also annoying, that it's opening links in the same browser, the PWA is installed in. I would like them to open in my main browser, firefox.

What an insult to the Linux community. Microsoft has offered a crippled and buggy Teams for Linux app for a few years, and instead of improving it they have now eliminated it and offer us the same limited web app that has always existed, but announcing it as a "PWA" as if it were some kind of special innovation for Linux. The Teams web app has buggy spell checking in Chromium, no tray notification icon, and no take/request remote control options, and probably a ton of other limitations that I have yet to discover.

Tested it on Ubuntu 20.04 (Gnome classic desktop) with Chrome 107.0.5304.110. Found the following problems compared to the app:

• No tray icon
• delayed notifications
• no secondary ringing tone (important, if You have a head-set connected, but not always on ears)

Hi there! I tested both web client and PWA and I have no notification sounds. All the notifications options are enabled, cookies for Edge seems to be correct and sound works on calls, but no in notifications. Any solutions? I have the same behaviour in two linux laptops and I've used Chrome, Edge and Brave with the same results.

I don't have background effects on calls either. I thought this feature was enabled in the web client.

Help please

Thanks for the feedback, please keep it coming-- we're really glad to see people using the PWA scenarios, and we would just like to provide some additional details on a few items that we are addressing from your comments:

• In progress: Fixing System notifications for Incoming Calls and Meeting Starts so you will see that you have an incoming call or a meeting has started even when you don't have the Teams PWA in the foreground.
• In progress: Meeting links open in the PWA, so when you have the PWA installed, the PWA is opened.

A few other notes:

• The PWA is a currently a single window experience (the same as the Teams desktop app on Linux was).
• In meetings, you do have the ability to minimise the call to a call monitor and work in Teams in channels or chats during the call. 
• The PWA and web app offer a number of features that weren't feasible on the desktop app, including custom backgrounds, in-meeting reactions, and CA policies for device management in conjunction with Edge and Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

We will continue to iterate on the PWA experience on Linux, while also looking to expand its functionality to other platforms. We will continue to listen here to our Tech Community and hope that you enjoy the PWA experience. 

At this point I have my doubts that Microsoft really cares about Linux users having any sort of first-class experience. I'm sure they would much rather you just give up and use Windows for your desktop.