UCStatus Podcast Episode 70: All the Latest Teams News before Ignite 2025

UCStatus Podcast

Hello Readers, I hope you’re well.

Welcome to Episode 70 of the UCStatus Podcast. This episode features me (@randychapman), Mark Vale (@markvale) and Shawn Harry (@shawnharry).

Only about 3 1/2 weeks since the last episode. Happy days. Since Ignite is only a couple of weeks away we thought it might be good to do an episode of everything new since the last one and before all the annoucements of Ignite take over. Here’s the list…

Message Centre

• Audio only recording now available in Teams – This new feature provides a valuable option for users by enhancing efficiency and accuracy in documenting meetings and calls. It alleviates concerns about facial information exposure when recording is necessary, offering a more privacy-conscious approach to recording meetings.
• AI workflows powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot – AI Workflows in the Teams Workflows app use Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks via scheduled prompts and templates, available to licensed users. Rolling out late 2025 to early 2026, the feature is off by default and requires enabling the Workflows app in Teams. Admin controls allow disabling it.
• Microsoft Teams town halls: Full HD (1080p) video resolution coming to Teams Premium – Microsoft Teams Premium will support 1080p video resolution for town halls starting November 2025. IT admins must enable it via the TownhallMaxResolution policy. Network support and Ultra-Low Latency streaming are required. The feature enhances video quality for sharper broadcasts and is available across all Teams platforms.
• Microsoft Teams: Introducing the Network Strength Indicator – a 3-bar system starting mid-December 2025. It helps identify poor connections, suggests bandwidth-saving actions, and shows others’ network status to improve meeting clarity. Rollout completes by mid-January 2026.
• Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows: Native PTZ controls delayed again to March 2026
• Teams admin center: “What’s New” section coming between mid November and early december – It provides admins with tenant-specific updates, new controls, resources, and Targeted Release visibility. The feature is on by default, requires no setup, and helps admins stay informed and act quickly.
• Microsoft Teams: Chat with anyone with an email address rolling out November
• Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android: Recording and transcription controls (Teams Rooms Pro required)
• Microsoft Teams Rooms: Front-of-room view control for Town Halls on Android – Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android will introduce an Adaptive Front-of-Room Experience for Town Halls, requiring a Teams Rooms Pro license. It offers a distraction-free attendee view and full presenter control, including backstage tools. Rollout begins December 2025.
• Microsoft Teams Rooms: Room health signals in Teams Rooms on Windows – Teams Rooms on Windows with Pro licenses will display alert banners for critical room health issues on front-of-room and console displays starting February 2026. This feature, enabled by default in app version 5.5+, helps users quickly identify problems and maintain meeting continuity by prompting room changes if needed.
• Consult and merge into a meeting or group call via Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) – Microsoft Teams will enable consulting and merging PSTN callers behind IVR or auto-attendants using DTMF tones into meetings starting January 2026. Users can navigate IVR via a new dialpad and merge external parties seamlessly. No admin action is needed; the feature is enabled by default.

Roadmap (everything new for Teams in the last month)

• Microsoft Teams: New sharing panel in meetings – improved content discovery and ease of sharing – ROLLOUT START January 2026 – The sharing panel in today’s meetings is the default place for content discoverability and sharing. New sharing panel UI is crafted with intent of modernising and simplifying default tasks such as window sharing, but also for easier discovery of sharing options and more discoverable file sharing.
• Microsoft Teams: Miracast support for Teams Rooms on Windows devices – ROLLOUT START January 2026 – In addition to Teams Cast and HDMI ingest; you are able to share wirelessly using Miracast with Teams Rooms on Windows devices including touch boards. Available in Teams Rooms Pro.
• Microsoft Teams: Interpreter agent support in Teams rooms on Windows – ROLLOUT START December 2025 – The Interpreter agent acts as a translator in Microsoft Teams meetings, allowing participants to listen to the meeting in their chosen language with real-time translation so speaking different languages isn’t a barrier to effective understanding and collaboration. It’s now available in Teams Rooms on Windows licensed for Teams Rooms Pro.
• Microsoft Teams: Restart your Town hall event – ROLLOUT START December 2025 – Teams town hall producers can now restart a live event while the event is active in order to address technical issues that might arise during the execution of an instance. Whether technical, network, or other issue, this feature enables those managing the event to quickly resolve problems for attendees. This feature is designed to prevent the need for scheduling entirely new events.

Other

• Making Teams Updates Seamless with Smarter Delivery with Peer-to-Peer download and Scattered Rollouts

Copilot Recap

Back by popular demand. Keep in mind that this was generated by AI and may not capture exactly what we said or the sentimenmt and context around it accurately.

Teams features

• Randy explained that audio-only recording is coming soon to Teams, offering a privacy-focused option for meeting documentation.
• Randy introduced AI-powered workflows by Microsoft 365 Copilot, highlighting automation capabilities for tasks and templates in Teams.

AI workflow reliability

• Mark discussed reliability challenges with AI-powered workflow tools, sharing examples of inconsistent performance and lack of error notifications.
• Participants noted that while AI can automate workflow creation, users still need technical skills to review and adjust the results for accuracy.
• Mark described challenges with AI-powered workflow tools, noting that fixing one part of a workflow can unintentionally break other working sections, and emphasized the need for clear context and understanding of variables.

Prompting best practices

• Randy explained that AI tools like GPT may generate plausible but incorrect information when prompts are vague, highlighting the importance of precise prompting for accurate results.
• Mark and Shawn discussed that while AI tools are useful for tasks like rewriting website content, users must still provide clear and detailed prompts to achieve the desired outcome.

AI prompting best practices

• Participants discussed the importance of strong prompting skills for effective use of AI tools, noting that users must learn to write clear and detailed queries.
• Randy explained that integrating prompting skills into school curriculums could be beneficial, suggesting a blend of IT and language education.

Teams feature updates

• Randy announced that Teams Town Halls will support full HD 1080P resolution for large meetings with Teams Premium, but noted requirements for specific hardware, bandwidth, and policy settings.
• Randy shared that Teams will introduce a network strength indicator with a three-bar system starting in mid-December to help identify poor connections and suggest bandwidth-saving actions.
• Randy stated that Teams Rooms on Windows native PTZ camera control has been delayed again to March 2026, and discussed vendor responses and current limitations of the feature.
• Randy shared that Microsoft Teams will soon allow users to chat with anyone using an email address, removing the need for federation and enabling external contacts to join via a browser-based Teams experience.
• Participants discussed the benefits and potential concerns of the new Teams chat with external users, including easier communication and the need for appropriate guardrails.
• Randy described the new Teams interpreter agent feature, which mimics a user’s voice in different languages to enable multilingual meetings.
• Randy shared that Microsoft Teams will introduce peer-to-peer downloads and scattered rollouts for client updates, using ECDN technology to reduce bandwidth usage during updates.

Teams admin center updates

• Randy explained that the Teams admin center will introduce a “what’s new” section in mid-November to early December, providing tenant-specific updates, new controls, and resources for admins.

Teams chat with external users

• Participants discussed security concerns and potential data leakage risks related to the new Teams chat feature that allows initiating conversations with external email addresses.

Teams rooms feature updates

• Randy explained that Teams rooms on Android will soon support manual recording and transcription controls, similar to the existing functionality on Windows.
• Randy shared that Teams rooms on Android will gain enhanced producer controls for town halls and webinars, allowing presenters and participants to manage content directly from the touch console.
• Randy explained that Teams Rooms on Android will soon offer enhanced producer controls for town halls and webinars, allowing presenters and participants to manage content directly from the touch console, with rollout beginning in December.
• Randy shared that Teams Rooms on Windows will display alert banners for critical room health issues on both the front-of-room and console displays, with this feature enabled by default starting in February.
• Randy stated that Teams Rooms on Windows touch boards will gain Miracast support, enabling wireless content sharing for devices without HDMI ingest, with the feature specifically for touch boards.

Teams calling and telephony

• Randy announced that Microsoft will enable consulting and merging PSTN calls behind IVRs or auto attendants into meetings using DTMF tones, allowing users to merge external parties seamlessly without admin intervention, starting in January.

Teams meetings experience

• Randy described improvements to the Teams meeting sharing panel, including a new floating interface with more intuitive controls for sharing screens, files, and whiteboards, rolling out in January.
• Randy announced that Teams Town Hall producers can now restart a live event while it is active, addressing previous limitations where events could not be resumed after being stopped.
• Participants discussed the history and evolution of large-scale meeting features in Teams, referencing earlier platforms like Skype Meeting Broadcast and Live Meeting.

It was a fun discussion as always. Thanks for listening! Catch you next time.

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