Microsoft Teams App Update Policy: What You Need to Know
In a significant announcement, Microsoft has updated its messages regarding app updates for Microsoft Teams within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The updated policy emphasizes that Teams will become unusable if it is not updated for over 90 days following a new version release. In such cases, access to the app will be blocked until the necessary updates are applied.
Importance of Keeping Microsoft Teams Updated
This proactive measure stems from Microsoft’s commitment to app security. The company previously elaborated on this initiative, prioritizing the protection of its technology ecosystem in light of current security concerns. As Microsoft stated:
In today’s security climate, our work across the company and greater industry to keep this critical ecosystem secure is more important than ever. And while we also ship bug fixes and other new features via continuous innovation, in the end security is job one.
Keeping Microsoft Teams up to date is critical to ensure your devices are secure and compliant. By default, and as designed, Teams updates automatically which successfully updates most clients in the world without additional overhead for customers.
Microsoft Teams is governed by the Modern Lifecycle Policy which requires that the Teams desktop client be kept up to date..… As documented, when a client falls out of date, the user will see:
- Recurring in-app alerts for apps that are between 30 and 90 days out of date. In VDI environments, these alerts occur between 60 and 90 days.
- A blocking page will appear for apps that are over 90 days old, displaying options to update, contact an IT administrator, or use Teams on the web.
New Update Notifications and Blocking Procedures
Recently, Microsoft updated the communication to include further details about how the Teams app will notify users of potential blocks due to outdated versions. Notably:
Versions of the new Teams client that were released more than 90 days ago will be blocked. An in-app warning banner will show up 60 days before the app is blocked (30 days for VDI).
Users will begin to see a blocking page after these dates:
- April 11th, 2025, for Windows desktop app users
- May 6th, 2025, for users in VDI environments
- May 15th, 2025, for Mac desktop app users
- Warning banners will start appearing 60 days prior to blocking (30 days for VDI environments).
Recommendations for IT Administrators
To mitigate the risk of disruptions, Microsoft urges IT and system administrators to configure Teams to automatically update to the latest version. Administrators can find further details in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under message ID MC1047923.
For more information on this policy change, refer to the linked article below.
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