Together Mode was positioned as a “shared virtual space” to reinforce the sensation of connection while on a video call, with participants’ video feed cropped and placed in virtual scenes akin to a conference room, coffee shop, or amphitheater. Microsoft claimed that Together Mode users were less prone to experience video meeting fatigue — a typical grievance amongst distant staff as tools akin to Teams and Zoom became the norm for office collaboration.
The feature might be seen as a part of a wider push for more engaging and immersive meeting experiences, a move that prolonged to Microsoft’s metaverse for work concept, with its Mesh 3D meeting platform.
Microsoft retired Mesh last December (though an app for immersive events continues to be available with certain Teams subscriptions), and now Together Mode faces the identical fate.
Together Mode will now not be available as of June 30, a move that can “simplify the meeting experience” for users, said Katarina Tranker, Teams product manager, in a Monday blog post. At this point, the feature shall be removed as an option from the View menu in Teams meetings, with the Gallery view the first layout for group meetings.