Teams to deliver ‘Payments’ app this November; more features expected before 2022 ends

Added to the Microsoft 365 roadmap in September, the “Payments” app in Microsoft Teams is now expected to get its release this month. However, the feature’s availability is still limited in case it rolls out before November ends. According to Microsoft, it will only cater to US and Canada-registered businesses, though it covers numerous Teams platforms, such as the web, iOS, Android, Mac, and desktop.

On a positive note, the Payments app will make the payment process among businesses that conduct sessions on Teams. As per the Microsoft 365 roadmap entry, “once you connect a third-party service to receive payments, you’ll be able to request payment right during a Teams meeting—and have customers pay you in just a few clicks.”

Aside from the said app, other features in the Microsoft 365 roadmap still await their general availability release in November. The list includes expanding Teams emoji selections to 800 choices, chat message delay delivery, additional approvals list filters, and more. In December, a handful of other features and improvements will arrive on the messaging platform, including the long-awaited “Delete Chats” option to permanently delete entire conversations your view and use the “@mention” feature to instantly add new participants to the chat.

Meanwhile, one of the newest features that Teams users can try now is the Games for Work app, which offers familiar titles like Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Wordament on Teams. It is only available for enterprise and education customers, but the games included are tweaked to allow multi-player mode catering to up o 250 players simultaneously. Recently, Teams also released a new experience called “Sign language view” in preview. It is meant for members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and features a better screen layout to highlight signers or interpreters on screen.