The topic Microsoft spent six months overhauling Teams, and now it feels as responsive as it… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Near the end of 2025, Microsoft had a big wake-up call. Its huge Copilot push was not winning over the hearts of its users, and its software, including its flagship OS Windows 11, began showing problems. As such, when 2026 came around, the company went full speed ahead on getting back to its roots and improving its software over Copilot.
Microsoft has already spent two months overhauling Windows 11, and now it’s showing off what it has done with Teams. If you felt that Microsoft Teams has gotten snappier over the last few weeks, you’re not imagining it; in fact, Microsoft has the numbers to prove it.
Over on the Microsoft Teams Blog, the company reveals everything it’s added to Teams since the start of the year. As it turns out, swapping between Teams chats wasn’t as quick as it could be, so the company has been hard at work fixing that. As Microsoft says:
Switching between chats is one of the most common actions people perform in Teams, making it a key focus for performance improvements. During the first half of 2026, we reduced chat switch latency by 20%, building on gains delivered through last year’s chat and channels redesign. The result is a smoother, more responsive experience, especially for users on slower networks or older devices.
If you’re interested in software development, Microsoft actually describes the problems they encountered with Teams chats and why the app wasn’t as snappy as it could be. Fortunately, the company figured out how to implement some smart fixes that sped things up by quite a lot.
However, macOS and iOS users will likely notice the new and improved Teams app far more than Windows users. Microsoft identified a nasty app-freezing issue on Apple’s hardware, so it added fixes that reduced hangs by 35%. It also made it 25% faster to find people when using iOS specifically.
As we approach the midway point of 2026, Microsoft has done a lot to improve its software. Here’s hoping it can keep up the momentum up to and into 2027.