Microsoft has quietly released a beta version of Teams optimized for Apple Silicon Macs. 9to5Mac reported yesterday that the installer for this new version of Teams has been discovered on Microsoft’s website before the company officially announced its availability.
If Microsoft’s Office apps for macOS are already optimized for Apple Silicon Macs, a native version of Microsoft Teams has been one of the top-requested items on the app’s feedback portal. Microsoft confirmed two months ago that a native Teams client for M1 Macs was in the works, and an official announcement is likely coming soon.
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If you have an Apple Silicon Mac, you can download the new beta client from this link. We’ve downloaded and installed this native version of Microsoft Teams on an Apple Silicon Mac Mini, and it works as expected. It also starts significantly faster than the emulated version for Intel-based Macs, and that is much appreciated.
Microsoft Teams is known to be quite a resource hog, even though Microsoft claims that it has optimized the app to make it use up to 50% less power during meetings. We didn’t spend enough time with this new beta client, but if you do have an Apple Silicon Mac, let us know in the comments if you think this new native version makes better use of your Mac’s resources.