News

New Microsoft Teams App for VDI Generally Available

• By Kurt Mackie
• December 07, 2023

Microsoft released its new Microsoft Teams app for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), per a Tuesday announcement.

The new Teams for VDI app reached the "general availability" commercial-release stage for business customers. Currently, it is not available for Microsoft 365 Government cloud service users, but Microsoft intends to roll it out to those subscribers "at a later date."

The new Microsoft Teams app for VDI is not just for Microsoft's Azure Virtual Desktop VDI service. Microsoft indicated that "currently, new Teams on VDI with audio/video (AV) optimization is certified with Azure Virtual Desktops, Windows 365, Citrix, and VMware," per this document.

Microsoft claims that the new Teams app for VDI "has feature parity with classic Teams app and also has improved performance, reliability, and security," according to the announcement. However, some features are not supported in the VDI version of the app, such as user-created custom backgrounds, avatars and Teams Premium features, Microsoft explained, in this section of Microsoft's document.

Users of the new Teams for VDI app will get "instant" switching between "chats, channels and activities," along with faster scrolling. The new app is said to be "two times faster while using 50% less memory." Microsoft also touted easy installation.

"With the new Teams app, you can use one installer for both desktop and VDI and have the option to update automatically in VDI," the announcement indicated. The new Teams app for VDI can be deployed using "application management tools like Microsoft Intune," it added.

The app is also compatible with MSIX App Attach, a Windows application package format that lets organizations create and use custom images for session hosts. Microsoft explained that "the MSIX packaging format makes sure Teams is covered by Windows security features, and you get the newest app version with security updates and bug fixes."

Microsoft wants VDI users to install the new Teams app for VDI, as it is planning to end support for the "classic Teams in VDI" app next year. Here's that statement:

The classic Teams in VDI will reach end of support on June 30th, 2024, after which users will not be able to use the classic Teams and will be asked to switch to new Teams app. Therefore, we recommend you update to new Teams today.

Microsoft had also released its new Teams app for Windows and Mac clients back in October, promising it would deliver faster performance, with reduced memory consumption and storage space requirements.