Some Windows phone enterprise apps 'retiring' soon, includes Teams

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Unsurprisingly, Microsoft is gradually shuttering some more of its old Windows Phone 8.1 'enterprise' applications - Skype for Business and Yammer. These will be withdrawn from the Store on May 20th, 2018, though they'll carry on working if installed. More surprisingly, the much newer Microsoft Teams UWP app, featured here on AAWP last year, is also being shuttered -  and in a fashion which sees the app stop connecting altogether. My guess is that there's an API change coming next month and that Microsoft doesn't have the resources* to bring the UWP app up to scratch.

* It's poor, after all, without a penny in the bank....(!)

From the Microsoft support post:

Effective May 20, 2018, the Windows Phone apps for Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Yammer will be retired. Starting on that date, these apps will no longer be available for download from Microsoft Store, and Microsoft will no longer support them.

While Microsoft continues to support Windows 10 Mobile, we are not focused on building new features for the system. We will continue to invest in the Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Yammer mobile apps for iOS and Android, and also in desktop apps for Windows and Mac.

How does this affect me? 

After May 20, 2018, the  Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Yammer apps for Windows Phone will no longer be available from Microsoft Store. Existing users will have the following experience: 

  • Skype for Business and Yammer apps may continue to work, but we can’t provide any guarantees. These apps will no longer receive updates or support. 
  • The Microsoft Teams app will no longer work, and users will receive an error message when they try to connect.  

What do I have to do to prepare for this change?  

Going forward, Windows Phone users can connect to Skype for Business, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams by accessing them as follows: 

  • Skype for Business: We continue to invest in the Skype for Business mobile apps for iOS and Android, and also in desktop applications for Windows and Mac.
  • Microsoft Teams: We continue to invest in the Microsoft Teams mobile apps for iOS and Android, and also in desktop applications for Windows and Mac.
  • Yammer: Users can access Yammer using the mobile browser.

I doubt that many AAWP readers will be affected by any of this, though I have contacted our Teams correspondent, Esben Dalsgaard, for comment:

"Yes, all the three apps are shutting down and they will be removed from the Store. And Edge won't help you much. Teams and Skype for Business does not support Edge on W10M. And the Yammer web site does not scale well for mobile devices.

Yammer and Skype for business were old 8.1 apps, and they haven’t been updated for years, so it is not a big surprise they are discontinued. Plus there is an irony in the blog post -Microsoft says that they won’t support Skype for Business and Yammer – but they haven’t actually supported these apps (in terms of updates) in years. So if you have installed the apps, you can keep on using them, and the situation will not be very different!

For Teams, the situation is different. The UWP Teams app will just stop working. The situation now is that you have to change platform if you want to access this service on a phone. Mary Jo Foley from ZDnet has mentioned the rumor that Microsoft will release a PWA version of Teams for the Store. If true, I don’t think it will work on Win10M (due to Edge's slightly limited PWA capabilities)."

Whether it's an API change or simply that the Desktop Teams UWP is being re-targetted at Redstone 3 upwards, the upshot is that Teams isn't going to be an option on Windows 10 Mobile from next month onwards.

Any comments from Teams users?

Source / Credit: Microsoft