Microsoft Teams is set to retire CAPTCHAs for joining meetings from August 2026, replacing it with a default-on bot detector that will require organizer approval for bots. This should make Teams a whole lot less annoying to use due to the reduced friction.
Microsoft says that this measure will improve the accessibility of Teams, reduce friction, and modernize protection. It comes after the Redmond giant introduced a default-on capability that detects external meeting assistant bots and provides organizers with more visibility and control during the meeting join process.
The new bot detection feature will be made available before the CAPTCHA is retired, giving you time to switch over and ensuring there is no gap where meetings are left without baseline protection.
With regards to the removal of CAPTCHA, Microsoft is planning to lock the Require verification by participants (CAPTCHA) policy in early May, preventing it from being enabled. In late July, the CAPTCHA policy will be removed from PowerShell. Then, in late August, the CAPTCHA policy will be removed from the Teams Admin Center UI. It does note, however, that these dates are subject to change based on the release of bot identification.
Administrations do not need to take any action immediately, but they will need to review the new meeting after it becomes available in the Teams Admin Center. Microsoft also recommends keeping the default setting that requires the organizer’s approval for detected bots. To smooth the transition, you should also update internal documentation and help desk guidance related to meeting join and lobby controls.
You can find out more about this change in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under Message ID MC1262588.