Microsoft is retiring Teams’ Together Mode in favour of …

What’s changing

• The Together mode toggle will be removed from the meeting View menu.
• Scenes and custom scenes, including seat assignments, will be retired along with Together mode.
• Organizations that used scenes for brand presence can instead use organization‑provided branded backgrounds, including frosted glass options.

• Fewer clicks, less hunting: A single Gallery view that “just works,” with built‑in tools like pin and spotlight to keep presenters and key participants visible.
• Smoother video on modest devices: Adaptive video tile counts help prevent machine overload and reduce choppiness.
• Faster innovation: Consolidating on one layout pipeline helps us deliver quality improvements more quickly to all Teams users.

Why Microsoft is making this change

• Increase cognitive load for users
• Fragment the meeting experience across desktop, web, mobile, and Teams Rooms
• Add implementation complexity across platforms
• By consolidating on a single, adaptable Gallery experience, Microsoft aims to:
• Simplify the meeting interface and deliver a more consistent experience across devices.
• Deliver higher and more stable video quality across meetings by focusing on client-optimized rendering.
• Free up service capacity that can be reinvested into foundational video improvements that you have asked us to prioritize such as super‑resolution, denoising, and improved color accuracy