Slowly but surely, popular apps are being updated to run on Macs with Apple Silicon chips, without the need for Apple’s slower compatibility layer. Today, Microsoft Teams has now joined the party.
Microsoft revealed today in a blog post that “we’re rolling out a production-grade universal binary version of Teams, which means it will work natively on the entire Mac lineup, including those with an Apple Silicon chip“. For Mac users, this means a significant increase in performance, ensuring efficient use of device resources and an optimized Teams experience, even when using multiple high-resolution monitors during calls or meetings.
The latest Mac computers with Apple Silicon chips, such as the new MacBook Air M2 or the 24-inch iMac, are still compatible with software created for older Intel-based Macs using the “Rosetta 2” compatibility layer. However, software enabled in Rosetta 2 lends more and consumes more battery than native software, which partly explains why Teams on Mac has not been a great experience.
If all Teams on Mac users will eventually be automatically upgraded to this new app update, the deployment will be spread over several months rather than a few days or weeks.
“The generally available (GA) version of the native Teams app on Mac with Apple Silicon will be rolling out to customers in increments over the coming monthssays Pattnaik. If you don’t want to wait for the update to arrive on your machine, a beta version has been available for a few months already.
Other apps are already Apple Silicon compatible
Most of Apple’s Mac computers now use either M1 or M2 chips, starting with the introduction of the M1 chip-powered MacBook Air and Mac Mini in 2020, so there aren’t many popular apps left that are still limited to the Rosetta compatibility layer. Recently, OneDrive was updated to an Apple Silicon chip in February, Adobe made a native version of After Effects in April, Discord was upgraded in March, and ExpressVPN was updated within a week.
The native version of Microsoft Teams for Apple Silicon comes nearly two years after Microsoft released native versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and OneNote for M1 Macs.