If you’re a Teams user with an Apple Mac that has an M1 chip, we’ve got some good news for you. Spotted by Neowin, Microsoft has just released a new Apple M1 optimized version of Teams, though it’s still in beta.
Available for download on Microsoft’s website, (warning, direct download link!) the beta version of this Teams app no longer runs under Rosetta 2 emulation. While Teams on M1 Macs was never as slow as it is on Windows, this should mean that the M1 optimized version of Teams should be a lot faster than the current version coded for Intel Macs. The Teams app is now what Apple calls a “Universal” app, which are apps that are specially coded for the ARM-based M1 chip as well as Intel processors.
Apple’s M1 chip first hit the scene back in 2020, and since then, Microsoft has worked to optimize its apps for Macs with ARM-based silicon. The Microsoft Edge web browser is already optimized, as well as the Microsoft Office suite of apps. Even the OneDrive sync client is optimized, too.
The link we’ve shared for the M1 version of Teams isn’t listed on Microsoft’s website. Rather, it’s a direct download, so it appears that Microsoft is quietly testing it. We will keep you posted, as a full-on release should not be too far out.
