While WhatsApp is struggling to regain user trust following the controversies around its new privacy policy update, users are looking to shift to more secure alternatives. Citing this demand, Microsoft has today announced to offer its Teams platform for personal use for free on mobile devices as well as on the web.
The Redmond-based software giant announced the news with an official blog post. So, as per the post, Microsoft is converting Teams from a work communication platform into an alternative to WhatsApp or other messaging apps in the market. This means that following today, users will be able to use Teams for personal chats and video calls with their friends and family.
Coming to personal chats, users can now connect with their friends, acquaintances, and family members using the said feature. So, you can add other users to your Teams chat by using their email IDs or phone numbers. Even if they do not have a Teams account, they will receive the messages as SMS text messages on their devices.
Video Calling
Turning to the video calling feature, Teams will now allow users to make one-on-one video calls for free for 24 hours. For group video calls, the platform will allow users to add a maximum of 100 participants and conduct the call for 60 minutes. Moreover, due to the pandemic, Microsoft has announced to allow users to conduct a group video call with up to 300 participants for free for up to 24 hours. However, this will be available for a limited time and will be suspended soon.
So, with all these new features, Teams is now a full-fledged alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and other similar messaging apps. Furthermore, Microsoft added end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support on Teams pretty recently. So, you would not have to worry about privacy issues on the platform.
