Teams Rooms joins Zoom/Webex

Conference-room hardware is the domain here — the little Android bars and touch consoles that run Microsoft Teams in shared spaces. The stakes are simple: if a room can’t join the meeting your customer actually sent, the fancy setup turns into a laptop-and-dongle scramble. That gap has been especially annoying on Android-based Teams Rooms, which have lagged Windows on cross-platform meeting support. Microsoft is finally fixing part of that, with SIP-based joining for Zoom, Webex, and other supported third-party meetings on Teams Rooms on Android starting in June 2026. ### What actually changed in the room? Teams Rooms on Android are getting “cross-platform meetings via SIP join,” which means a room device can join supported outside meetings when the invite includes a SIP video address. In plain English, the room itself can place the call, instead of asking someone to bring a laptop into the room and bridge the gap manually. Microsoft tied the rollout to Roadmap ID 558539 and said general availability starts in early June 2026. (mc.merill.net) ### Why is SIP the important part? Because this is not the same thing as Direct Guest Join. Teams Rooms already had a web-based path for some outside meetings, but Microsoft’s own comparison shows SIP join is the more capable route: up to 1080p video instead of 720p, dual front-of-room displays instead of one, and in-room HDMI content sharing instead of no HDMI sharing at all. That sounds like plumbing — and it is — but it’s the difference between “the room technically joined” and “the room worked like a real conference room.” (mc.merill.net) ### Which meetings does it cover? Microsoft’s documentation frames Zoom and Cisco Webex as the headline examples, but the support table is broader than that. SIP join is meant for supported third-party services that expose SIP meeting addresses, and Microsoft’s table also lists other SIP services in the join flow. Pexip, which sells interoperability software for these setups, also pitches Google Meet support through its own service layer — though the Microsoft announcement itself centers on Zoom and Webex examples. (learn.microsoft.com) ### Why does Android matter so much? Because Android Teams Rooms are everywhere in smaller spaces. These are the all-in-one bars and boards that are easier to deploy than Windows-based rooms with separate PCs and peripherals. Pexip’s write-up makes the real enterprise problem pretty clear: lots of companies have a mixed estate, with some Windows rooms and lots of Android rooms, so having better interop only on Windows left a hole in the fleet. (mc.merill.net) This update closes that hole. ### Is this on by default? No — and that’s an important catch. Microsoft says the feature is off by default, requires Teams Rooms Pro licensing, and needs device configuration. So this is not one of those invisible cloud upgrades that just appears overnight. IT admins have to turn it on, test it, and make sure the room accounts and meeting processing settings are ready for third-party invites. (pexip.com) ### Does this replace Microsoft’s older approach? Not exactly. It sits alongside it. Microsoft’s docs now describe two lanes for third-party meetings on Teams Rooms: Direct Guest Join, which is WebRTC-based, and cross-platform SIP join, which is video-protocol based. The company isn’t deleting the old path — it’s adding a better one for cases where SIP is available and the organization wants the fuller room experience. (mc.merill.net) ### So why does this matter beyond convenience? Because room systems are a platform fight now, not just a camera-and-speaker purchase. If a Teams Room can handle outside Zoom and Webex calls cleanly, companies have fewer reasons to keep parallel room setups or fall back to personal devices. Basically, Microsoft is making Teams Rooms on Android more defensible in mixed-platform offices — and less likely to lose the room the moment someone sends the “wrong” meeting link. (learn.microsoft.com) ### Bottom line? This is a plumbing upgrade, but it fixes a very visible problem. Android Teams Rooms are catching up to Windows, and that makes Microsoft’s room hardware story a lot stronger in the real world. (pexip.com)