Microsoft Teams to retire Together mode and prioritize Gallery for better video quality

Microsoft Teams will officially retire its Together mode on June 30, marking nearly six years since its introduction in July 2020. Together mode was designed to create a more immersive virtual meeting experience by placing participants into shared scenes like theaters or rooms, moving away from the traditional grid of webcam feeds. However, Microsoft has decided that maintaining multiple viewing modes, including Together, Gallery, Large Gallery, and Dynamic View, has become unnecessarily complex and contributes to cognitive overload for users. By consolidating to Gallery mode, Teams aims to simplify the user interface, provide a consistent experience across devices, and deliver higher, more stable video quality. Additionally, this change will free up system capacity, allowing Microsoft to focus on improvements such as super-resolution, denoising, and enhanced color accuracy. Users who previously relied on Together mode for branding or customized scenes are advised to use backgrounds instead. The update reflects Microsoft’s shift toward prioritizing performance and functionality over novelty features, signaling a focus on long-term video quality improvements and a streamlined user experience.