Your AirPods could soon be the most unexpectedly useful accessory for a Microsoft Teams call — and even save your job
Ensuring your microphone is muted during a Microsoft Teams call should soon be a lot easier, thanks to a new update from a possibly unexpected source.
The videoconferencing platform has announced that it will soon offer some users the ability to mute and unmute themselves while on a call using their Apple AirPods.
Users with the wireless earbuds will be able to directly control their microphone and audio feeds for the first time, but for now only a select few will be lucky enough to get the functionality.
Microsoft Teams and Apple AirPods
In his entry the official Microsoft 365 roadmap describes the update as helping Microsoft Teams “work seamlessly” with Apple AirPods.
The company notes that the same functionality is already available on iPhone running iOS 17, but will now also be available on Mac models running macOS Sonoma.
The tool is now also supported in the new Teams for Mac app, meaning users get the most up-to-date version of the service wherever they are.
The update is listed as “in development” for now, but has a target rollout start date of March 2024, so AirPods fans won’t have to wait too long.
The news is the latest in a series of recent announcements about audio feeds on Microsoft Teams, as the company attempts to address what is clearly a growing concern for users.
This includes a recent addition that allows users to mute and unmute their audio by simply clicking the microphone icon in the Windows taskbar (or by pressing the Windows logo key + Alt + K), which in theory should make it easier to make sure your microphone doesn’t work. It’s not accidentally enabled when it shouldn’t be, but having such controls in an obvious location can also put users at risk of accidentally clicking them.
The platform also recently announced that it will let users hide all common Microsoft Teams channels in their workplace or organization, which it says will help to some extent, “so you can focus on the channels that matter most to you “.