Allow disabling "away" status, for privacy reasons

Copper Contributor

The fact that I'm working on my pc or not is a privacy-critical information. Thus, there should be an option to disable this auto-detection and force the status to online. (or online/busy autodetection depending on your calendar)

6 Replies
Hi, there's work in progress or at least on the backlog when it comes to presence (see UV link below). But there are many things you can configure today, you can even set custom duration for presence or appear offline while not etc. Have you had a real look?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/presence-admins

Vote here to stay updated when status changes, if the above settings are not satisfying.

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/16958344-more-status-options-c...
I just tried what was written in that article, manually set my status to "available" (this should stay now for 7 days), but 20 minutes later when I checked it was again "away"
Why would you want to appear available when not? Try selecting another presence alternative to see the outcome. If you experience the same problem you can reach out to your IT org. helping you create a support ticket (if you're not an admin).
Remember, the reason for it is not to spy on you, it's to let others know that if they send you a message, whether or not there's a chance that you will answer it.
But as you start using it, you start to realize that away doesn't mean away. It just means that you haven't touched your computer lately. You can still be very legitimately working on something or even on a phone call where you don't touch the computer.
If you don't want to be nice to others, just set status to appear away and never to reset.
Fact is: spying is possible. And I think this is not capable with European laws, at least not as long there is no option to disable it
Well, put it on offline then and never change it.