Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android | August 2021 Updates
Published Aug 11 2021 08:00 AM 46.6K Views
Microsoft

We recently announced update 2A for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android which is now available in the Teams Admin Center (TAC). Here, we will go into detail on the robust feature set in update 2A (and update 2). We highly recommend customers update to 2A, which is the latest version of Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android, to get the optimal experience.

 

Introducing room remote

Room remote is a new experience on the Teams mobile app allowing users to control Teams Rooms devices and select functionality from their personal mobile phone. Use room remote in your Teams app on your mobile phone to turn room cameras and microphones on or off, adjust volume, change the content layout and more.

Microsoft Teams Rooms Mobile.png

 

New remote provisioning and sign-in experience
Once a Teams Room device is installed and powered on, IT Admins can complete the sign-in and provisioning process remotely from the Teams Admin Center.

 

Support for sharing via HDMI ingest
Now select Teams Rooms support screen sharing through an HDMI connection. Sharing starts automatically, but users can also control projection functionality through a new button located on the home screen of the touch console.

Sharing HDMI Ingest.png

Auto answer for Meet Now
Teams Rooms can now be set to automatically answer a “Meet Now” call. This allows the Teams Room to be pulled into an ad hoc call without requiring the user to interact with the device to accept the call.

 

1080p resolution for outgoing video
Select Teams Rooms are now capable of transmitting 1080p resolution. Performance of this feature can vary depending on bandwidth and other conditions of the room and remote participants.


Additional features with this build include extending live captions to 1:1 calls, having the ability as a presenter or organizer to lock meetings by navigating to the ‘more’ menu, and hiding meeting titles in the calendar on certain Teams Rooms on Android devices.

 

 

We are thrilled to introduce these features to Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android. Click here for a full list of features and updates.

 

38 Comments
Copper Contributor

How to download the Teams Rooms for Android? No app is there on Play Store. Also not found any link on Microsoft teams page or any article.

Microsoft

@ganeshwaghmode it's not Teams Rooms for Android Phones. You have Teams Rooms that run on either Windows or Android and this is the Android version. Solid session about the differences can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYIDS82iHYc 

Copper Contributor

This is obviously not yet available...maybe in a few hours ?

 

 

Copper Contributor

@Micbou Yes the article is not about the teams rooms for android but I was searching for the Android APK to setup the teams rooms for android but not found any steps and app link anywhere.

@ganeshwaghmode Teams Rooms on Android only runs on certified hardware, as can be seen here - Microsoft Teams Rooms Packages and Systems | Teams devices

 

There is no APK that is distributed out side of this certified-hardware ecosystem. As such, you will not find it in the Play store and there is no app link to be found. That is why the article mentioned that you will find it on Teams admin center as that is how it gets distributed.

Room Remote is great when you sit just out of reach of an MTR console and you don't want to crawl over the table on camera to mute the room...not that that's happened to me multiple times since we started hybrid work... :upside_down_face:

Copper Contributor

Auto answer for Meet Now

 

I hope this feature will avoid having a sign on the TV to accept to enter the meeting when joining a meeting from your PC with the "Sound of the room" feature in Teams (proximity feature).

I had this recently when I joined an invitation from a Microsoft Teams tenant external to mine.

I had to cancel and join again to get it to work without asking me for permission on the HDX polycom bar.

Moreover, since I don't have a touch screen but a TC8, I couldn't click to accept...not easy,

 

Copper Contributor

Sorry for the double post, but I only just saw the August blog, which we install during our rollout. Since it's more relevant here, I will post it here as well (posted it on the april blog before):

Just finished installing the Yealink A30 with CPT18 and VCH51, with the latest (august) update. And I must say it's fantastic, we already liked the MTRoA in March when we starting testing, but this latest release really makes allot of further improvements.

However 1 feature is still "dumb". One or the reasons we chose the Yealink over the Poly, is the dual screen (that and the privacy shutters, which people love). However content is always displayed on screen 2 (HDMI2) instead of Screen 1 (HDMI1), which means that you can no longer interact with the content (/whiteboard) on the touchscreen on the main screen (HDMI1) which is the touchscreen in our case (Dell C55xxQT). So we have to chose every meeting to do a meeting with passive content (and connect HDMI2, with the benefit of split screens), or interacting / whiteboarding in which we can't connect the second screen.

Microsoft

@Paul_Renting thanks for your feedback. this is something we will consider for a future update. 

Copper Contributor

Is there a link to the Teams Room Remote Application on Apple or Android? 

Microsoft

Good question @Justin O'Meara! For room remote there is no additional app needed. It is conveniently located as part of the Teams app on your mobile phone. You will be able to access room controls in one of three ways: 

1. Go to a calendar invite on your mobile phone and via the join button, leverage the proximity join feature to select the Teams Rooms and bring the Teams Room into the meeting. At this point, you will see a banner at the top of your mobile phone that offers the option to control the room.

2. Join a meeting from the Teams Room device as well as on your mobile phone. On your mobile phone, go to the roster and select the Teams Room and a menu of options will be available, one of which will be the ability to control the room.

3. Join a meeting from the Teams Room device as well as on your mobile phone and on your mobile phone, long press on the video of the Teams Room. A menu of options will come up that will allow you to control the room.

Iron Contributor

We are demising HDMI cables in favour of USB-C cables for content sharing in meeting rooms, so it would be great if the "Share" button didn't mention "HDMI" specifically. Maybe add the option to allow the admin to disable the "Share" button, or customise the short message that gets displayed.

Copper Contributor

Only July App version: 1449/1.0.96.2021070803 is document - What's new in Microsoft Teams devices - Office Support

 

I dont see it in the TAC yet either, when August 2A App Version going to be made available?  

Brass Contributor

Great update @SandhyaRao 

 

I agree with @Paul_Renting I have had same issue on Logiteh Rally Bar, 

where content and whiteboard go to screen 2 which was not a touchscreen. 

 

Copper Contributor

Any word on third party meetings on MTR on Android release?

Brass Contributor

@mdavis6537 

Not available yet, but expected release September 2021

81482

Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365

Brass Contributor

Hi team - is the new MS Whiteboards app planned for MTRoA? I read that it was available for MTRoW but no mention of MTRoA. Graham Walsh's post below mentions there used to be a roadmap item for it but it was since removed? Cheers

https://www.graham-walsh.com/microsoft-teams-room-roadmap-watch-may-2021/

Copper Contributor

Maybe license related, since we use an E3 license for our rooms, but we have full whiteboard capability on MTRoA, with the above mentioned issue, if you use 2 screens.

Copper Contributor

Well HDMI Sharing it's not yet ready for Teams Rooms for Android -> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=66357

I've followed it since 2 months and it was delayed from june to july and now to september.... Lets see when it really gets published :)

Copper Contributor

I just deployed Yealink A20 and Yealink A30 with the WPP20 wireless content sharing device. Now Yealink tells me that there is no audio sharing in Teams. Is that a limit in Teams Rooms for Android? In that case, when will this be supported?

Brass Contributor

@Paul_Renting why do you choose to license your MTR with E3 license?  Do you know there is a specific license now for Teams Rooms and this is cheaper than the full E3 license and gives exactly the right functionality you need.  It's always nice to have a little :heavy_dollar_sign::heavy_dollar_sign: saved with Microsoft ;)

Copper Contributor

@CANDEman403 For corporate reasons, the global HQ doesn't allow Rooms licenses, so we used E3 instead. However I've read (but haven't been able to test) that whiteboard functionality is limited to E3, instead of Rooms license?

 

The Teams Rooms licenses do not limit any features within Teams Rooms.

 

Rather, they provide all the required entitlements to fully use Teams Rooms, including whiteboard.

 

An E3 has additional entitlements that aren't relevant to Teams Rooms, e.g.  Forms, Planner, etc.

Copper Contributor

Hello we are a GCC-H tenant that does not have MTR licenses available yet, so we are licensing all of our MTRoW rooms with E3.  We have a small deployment of MTRoA rooms also running on E3 licenses. How can I tell if my MTRoA device is running in shared mode or personal mode? Is it it based on the licenses or the type of account that's used to log in? Also on a shared MTRoA device when I click on settings I can go ahead and click "Sign Out" of the device. Is it just me or does it seem insane to offer users capability to sign out of a shared room device?

Hi @teamstothemoon.

 

This article explains it. 

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/devices/teams-android-devices-user-interface

 

And it sounds like you are in user mode as sign out is unavailable in shared mode (without first providing an Admin password). You'll need to create a policy to override user mode, as described in the linked article 

 

 

Copper Contributor

@Michael Tressler ,

Do I understand correctly that starting a whiteboard from a teams room system (both Android and Windows? ) is now possible also with a room ( shared) license ?

According to Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android | April 2021 Updates - Page 2 - Microsoft Tech Community

This was not yet the case:
"For now, sharing the whiteboard is only supported for personal accounts. Shared account (aka resource account) support is coming soon."



Brass Contributor

Can it really be true, that MTRoA devices (in my case the Logitech Rally Bar) are using the old and deprecated "device admin" method of registering into Intune? I just had to introduce a new device restriction segment - after three days of frustration. Logitech support was no help in this case. They were basically saying: ask MSFT.

I am really irritated and wouldn't have thought that a new product like MTRoA would use that mechanism that is supposed to be thrown out of Android in the near future.

Sorry, just venting...

Copper Contributor

Hello did anyone else here lose their Share button on MTRoA devices in December? https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams/share-button-on-teams-room-missing/m-p/303250...

Brass Contributor

Dear MS Support,
Could be possible for you to work heavily with Logitech to make the HDMI Ingest available ASAP in the Logitech Rally Bar.
We have standardized the corporate conference Room to Logitech Rally + Logitech Tap + Mic. Pod extension in MS Teams Room on Android.
We are waiting this update by august last year, to have your "MS Teams Rooms on Android" solution implemented we need that at least basic feature will be available. Can you provide an ETA.

I hope that feature parity of MTRoA & MTRoW will become a big priority for MS.

Awaiting your reply I give my best regards

Andrea

Copper Contributor

@Andrea PALAZZI Given that Yealink MS room systems (MTRoA) have a working HDMI ingest, I think you're barking up the wrong tree...

Brass Contributor

@Paul_Renting 

I apologize, this feature is not available in all MS Teams Rooms Devices, it is still in rolling out. For Yealink it was released but for many other still not.

"Microsoft Teams: Wired HDMI ingest for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android", Updates are beginning to roll out and are not yet available to all applicable customers

This information is available as well on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=Microsoft%20Teams%2CAndroid

 

The last update on that regards is related to the 27/9/2021, I will really appreciate if MS can look to close the gab of this important basic feature on the Logitech Rally Bar + Logitech Tap appliances, and later concentrate on the enhancement to have feature parity of MTR on Android and Windows and Android ASAP


Best regards

AP

Brass Contributor

@Andrea PALAZZI 

I understand you.... Yealink and Poly have released HDMI ingest. 

But Logitech is soon to come. 

 

I think it is more difficult than just pointing at Microsoft... Microsoft can do some, but since each vendor have their own OS, they need to be a part of making it work and then it needs to be certified by Microsoft. 

 

But to have all Teams Rooms on Android supporting HDMI ingest is not expected before Q2 

Brass Contributor

@Lars Berlau 
Thanks for you reply, I have really appreciated.

To be honest with you, I'm not pointing the finger to anyone, my problem on this specific matter is the following:

- Logitech may say is MS

- MS may say is Logitech

 

I'm talking of a device released Q1 2021 not a new one. 1 year should be sufficient time to work together, again it will depend by both parties.

From my site I hope Logitech and MS will bridge the GAP soon, making the device up to speed ASAP.

 

My advice for the future will be does not certify a device until it will not suffice basic feature, and for a Modern Meeting room system HDMI ingest is really a basic feature, for me even wireless sharing should be a must!!!!

Have a nice morning or afternoon.

Andrea


Iron Contributor

Hardly any laptops have HDMI sockets these days, so more useful (in my view) would be USB-C. We are in the process of moving to USB-C for content ingest in our meeting rooms.

Brass Contributor

@Mark Licinio 

 

Until the laptop will be able to share the video only, could be a good option, if the laptop or device could initiate a BYOD.. that could be an issue.
Not all devices have the BYOD disabled when a MS teams call is in progress.


Copper Contributor

@Mark Licinio 

Although I'm a huge fan of both BYOD mode and DP over USB-C, or even Lightning: Keep in mind that all USB plugs expose a rubber ducky attack vector, so your CISO might (should?) have an issue with USB variants used as standard.

Brass Contributor

MS Teams Room System is moving fast, 
What’s New in Microsoft Teams | January 2022 - Microsoft Tech Community

 

In Android even feature available more than a year ago are still not available, I hope MS will work heavily to have feature parity or at least a MRToA more closed capability that the today available one's.

Best regards

 

AP

Copper Contributor

Hello, do you have an idea when "Join Teams meeting using meeting ID" will be available on MTRoA ?

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