Microsoft retires Teams Together Mode June

Microsoft is retiring Together mode in Teams on June 30, 2026, ending the meeting layout that places participants into a shared virtual scene. The change removes the Together mode toggle from the meeting View menu and retires scenes, custom scenes and seat assignments, according to a Microsoft 365 Insider post published May 14. TechRepublic reported the change on May 18 and said administrators should review meetings and templates that still rely on the feature. Microsoft said Gallery view will remain the main multi-participant layout in Teams. ### When exactly does Together mode disappear from Teams? June 30, 2026 is the date Microsoft gave for the feature’s removal. Katarina Tranker, a product manager on the Teams team, wrote in the Microsoft 365 Insider post that “the Together mode experience will no longer be available” beginning that day. The post said the change will roll out by removing the Together mode option from the View menu in meetings. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) May 18 coverage by TechRepublic said the retirement applies to the visual layer that placed users into conference-room, auditorium and other shared scenes. The report said shared scenes, custom scenes and seat assignments will all disappear with the June 30 cutoff. ### What is Microsoft removing besides the layout itself? Microsoft said scenes and custom scenes, including seat assignments, are being retired along with Together mode. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) That means organizations that created branded or structured meeting environments inside Together mode will lose those setups when the feature is removed. (techrepublic.com) TechRepublic said the affected users are likely to be tenants that built custom scenes for internal events, used branded spaces for all-hands meetings or relied on seat assignments for structured presentations. The publication said those organizations should inventory custom scenes and identify recurring meetings or templates that still depend on the feature. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) ### What is Microsoft telling customers to use instead? Microsoft said the “modern Gallery view” now meets the core need Together mode was designed to address. In the May 14 post, the company said Gallery can display up to 49 participants at once and automatically scales the number and size of video tiles based on device capability. (techrepublic.com) Microsoft also said organizations that used scenes for brand presence can switch to organization-provided branded backgrounds, including frosted glass options. TechRepublic said background blur, Gallery view and Spotlight remain available for ordinary meeting and presentation use cases after Together mode is removed. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) ### Why is Microsoft retiring a feature it launched during the pandemic? July 2020 was when Together mode launched, according to TechRepublic, as video meetings became a standard part of work. Microsoft said in its May 14 post that retiring the feature is part of a broader effort to simplify the meeting experience, reduce implementation complexity and focus engineering work on video quality, stability and performance. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) Microsoft said too many layout options can increase cognitive load for users and fragment the experience across desktop, web, mobile and Teams Rooms. The company said it plans to reinvest capacity into “foundational video improvements” including super-resolution, denoising and improved color accuracy. (techrepublic.com) ### What should Teams administrators do before June 30? TechRepublic said administrators should treat Together mode as infrastructure that is already on the way out and update meetings before the deadline. The publication said admins should inventory custom Together mode scenes, identify recurring meetings or templates that use them, and notify organizers who may still expect those layouts to work. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) June 30, 2026 is the next firm milestone in the change. Microsoft’s guidance is in the Microsoft 365 Insider post by Tranker, and TechRepublic’s May 18 report said organizations using custom scenes or seat assignments should complete their cleanup before that date. (techcommunity.microsoft.com) (techrepublic.com)