Is there any means of showing the mobile version of Teams on a Mac’s
screen?

Context: For my sins and to ensure my continued suffering, I have to use this
tortuous piece of junk once in a while. It is the only meetings app I’m
aware of that doesn’t have a Join Meeting button. Their idea is that you
launch the app by clicking on a URL in the invite. I can’t do that, because
the invite is on a corporate machine watch I’m looking at through Citrix
but the Teams app is one I want to run locally on my Mac because that’s
where the camera and mic are and running them remotely (i.e. making them
available to Citrix) is causing endless echo and lag.

To connect to anything at all, I have to use the mobile app. Which weirdly
-does- have a ‘Join meeting’ button, but with which Blackberry Work
integrates too so I can click the invite in Work and have it launch Teams. At
that point yes I’m in the meeting, but on a phone screen while I have a
giant monitor directly in front of me.

By the way, at the time of writing at least you can’t download Teams for
the desktop anyway. You go to the Teams website at
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software. Top
right there’s a small ‘Download teams’ button. Click it and it goes to
another set of buttons asking if you want to download desktop or mobile.
Click desktop and it scrolls a tiny bit to yet a third button marked
‘Download team’. There it is - the final boss button. Click
and...”Operation failed with unexpected error”.

My god.

Cheers,
Ian

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
> Is there any means of showing the mobile version of Teams on a Mac’s
> screen?
>
> Context: For my sins and to ensure my continued suffering, I have to use this
> tortuous piece of junk once in a while. It is the only meetings app I’m
> aware of that doesn’t have a Join Meeting button. Their idea is that you
> launch the app by clicking on a URL in the invite. I can’t do that, because
> the invite is on a corporate machine watch I’m looking at through Citrix
> but the Teams app is one I want to run locally on my Mac because that’s
> where the camera and mic are and running them remotely (i.e. making them
> available to Citrix) is causing endless echo and lag.

I think Teams for desktop is purely a web app these days, so any local
install is just an Electron skin over the webapp.

Does the meeting appear if you login to Teams from browser on your Mac? Or
is it a third party meeting (not in your calendar/etc) that your Teams is
unaware of until you click on the link, and your email is on the far end of
Citrix?

> To connect to anything at all, I have to use the mobile app. Which weirdly
> -does- have a ‘Join meeting’ button, but with which Blackberry Work
> integrates too so I can click the invite in Work and have it launch Teams. At
> that point yes I’m in the meeting, but on a phone screen while I have a
> giant monitor directly in front of me.

I just use Teams on mobile because the Electron Teams implementation on
Linux is a memory hog. Luckily most of my meetings aren't on Teams.

I suppose you might be able to AirPlay screen share from iOS/iPadOS to a
Mac, but it would just be a small window.

> By the way, at the time of writing at least you can’t download Teams for
> the desktop anyway. You go to the Teams website at
> https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software. Top
> right there’s a small ‘Download teams’ button. Click it and it goes to
> another set of buttons asking if you want to download desktop or mobile.
> Click desktop and it scrolls a tiny bit to yet a third button marked
> ‘Download team’. There it is - the final boss button. Click
> and...”Operation failed with unexpected error”.

It's just a webview anyway, so you're not missing much. Open it in your
browser instead?

> My god.

Don't worry, Microsoft people hate it too.

Theo

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
> Is there any means of showing the mobile version of Teams on a Mac’s
> screen?
>
> Context: For my sins and to ensure my continued suffering, I have to use this
> tortuous piece of junk once in a while. It is the only meetings app I’m
> aware of that doesn’t have a Join Meeting button. Their idea is that you
> launch the app by clicking on a URL in the invite. I can’t do that, because
> the invite is on a corporate machine watch I’m looking at through Citrix
> but the Teams app is one I want to run locally on my Mac because that’s
> where the camera and mic are and running them remotely (i.e. making them
> available to Citrix) is causing endless echo and lag.
>
> To connect to anything at all, I have to use the mobile app. Which weirdly
> -does- have a ‘Join meeting’ button, but with which Blackberry Work
> integrates too so I can click the invite in Work and have it launch Teams. At
> that point yes I’m in the meeting, but on a phone screen while I have a
> giant monitor directly in front of me.
>
> By the way, at the time of writing at least you can’t download Teams for
> the desktop anyway. You go to the Teams website at
> https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software. Top
> right there’s a small ‘Download teams’ button. Click it and it goes to
> another set of buttons asking if you want to download desktop or mobile.
> Click desktop and it scrolls a tiny bit to yet a third button marked
> ‘Download team’. There it is - the final boss button. Click
> and...”Operation failed with unexpected error”.
>
> My god.

Am thoroughly confused by what it is you want to achieve? Is it the mobile
app you want or the desktop one?

The simplest way regardless of platform is if you're invited to the
meeting. Then it'll be in your calendar and use the link there. It'll open
the appropriate app. On the desktop it may open the webapp, but you can
click the desktop app option.

I'm probably weird but I like Teams. Am in it 8-10 hours a day.

Am 28.06.23 um 19:02 schrieb Chris:
> Am thoroughly confused by what it is you want to achieve? Is it the mobile
> app you want or the desktop one?
>
> The simplest way regardless of platform is if you're invited to the
> meeting. Then it'll be in your calendar and use the link there. It'll open
> the appropriate app. On the desktop it may open the webapp, but you can
> click the desktop app option.
>
> I'm probably weird but I like Teams. Am in it 8-10 hours a day.

I refuse to use such highways to the privacy hell, namely Teams and what
was the other? Zoom? on my private infrastucture.

--
Prudentia potentia est

On 28 Jun 2023, Theo wrote
(in article <Khn*2FXjz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>):

> Does the meeting appear if you login to Teams from browser on your Mac? Or
> is it a third party meeting (not in your calendar/etc) that your Teams is
> unaware of until you click on the link, and your email is on the far end of
> Citrix?

The latter - I don’t have a Teams account personally, and you can’t log
into Teams using my work account unless you’re actually inside the work
network. Very secure...and utterly useless.

I also use WebEx. With those, you can either type the passcode or the URL is
nice and short. With Teams URLs though? I’ve owned computers that didn’t
have enough memory to fit a single one of those URLs inside it...

Cheers,
Ian

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
> I also use WebEx. With those, you can either type the passcode or the URL is
> nice and short. With Teams URLs though? I’ve owned computers that didn’t
> have enough memory to fit a single one of those URLs inside it...

Are you able to throw the link in a URL shortener, or is that verboten too?

Make a QR code out of it and decode it from a screenshot of your Citrix?

Theo

(who was suffering MS Safelinks of MS Safelinks earlier, that was a
whole-screen URL)

On 28 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
(in article <u7hp3n$1qoqc$1@dont-email.me>):

> I
> Am thoroughly confused by what it is you want to achieve? Is it the mobile
> app you want or the desktop one?

Mobile app using the Mac camera if possible, bonus if can just use the whole
Mac screen.

Why? Because the Mac version doesn’t have a “Join meeting” option where
you can just type in the meeting code. It -has- to be launched from a
URL...and I don’t have that URL.

> The simplest way regardless of platform is if you're invited to the
> meeting. Then it'll be in your calendar and use the link there. It'll open
> the appropriate app. On the desktop it may open the webapp, but you can
> click the desktop app option.

Citrix. I don’t have the email available locally, so there’s nothing for
me to open. The invite sits in my work calendar, which I look at on a Windows
box via Citrix.

> I'm probably weird but I like Teams. Am in it 8-10 hours a day.
Unclean! Unclean!

Cheers,
Ian

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
> On 28 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
> (in article <u7hp3n$1qoqc$1@dont-email.me>):
>
>> I
>> Am thoroughly confused by what it is you want to achieve? Is it the mobile
>> app you want or the desktop one?
>
> Mobile app using the Mac camera if possible, bonus if can just use the whole
> Mac screen.
>
> Why? Because the Mac version doesn’t have a “Join meeting” option where
> you can just type in the meeting code. It -has- to be launched from a
> URL...and I don’t have that URL.

A-ha. Gotcha.

>> The simplest way regardless of platform is if you're invited to the
>> meeting. Then it'll be in your calendar and use the link there. It'll open
>> the appropriate app. On the desktop it may open the webapp, but you can
>> click the desktop app option.
>
> Citrix. I don’t have the email available locally, so there’s nothing for
> me to open. The invite sits in my work calendar, which I look at on a Windows
> box via Citrix.

Any chance of forwarding the email? Also why not launch Teams in Windows?

>> I'm probably weird but I like Teams. Am in it 8-10 hours a day.
> Unclean! Unclean!

:-)

On 29/06/2023 08:10, Chris wrote:
> Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
>> On 28 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
>> (in article <u7hp3n$1qoqc$1@dont-email.me>):
>>
>>> I
>>> Am thoroughly confused by what it is you want to achieve? Is it the mobile
>>> app you want or the desktop one?
>>
>> Mobile app using the Mac camera if possible, bonus if can just use the whole
>> Mac screen.
>>
>> Why? Because the Mac version doesn’t have a “Join meeting” option where
>> you can just type in the meeting code. It -has- to be launched from a
>> URL...and I don’t have that URL.
>
> A-ha. Gotcha.

Can't you copy the URL in Citrix and then paste it into your favourite
web browser on your Mac to open it on your Mac?

>>> The simplest way regardless of platform is if you're invited to the
>>> meeting. Then it'll be in your calendar and use the link there. It'll open
>>> the appropriate app. On the desktop it may open the webapp, but you can
>>> click the desktop app option.
>>
>> Citrix. I don’t have the email available locally, so there’s nothing for
>> me to open. The invite sits in my work calendar, which I look at on a Windows
>> box via Citrix.
>
> Any chance of forwarding the email? Also why not launch Teams in Windows?
>
>>> I'm probably weird but I like Teams. Am in it 8-10 hours a day.
>> Unclean! Unclean!
>
> :-)
>
>

On 29 Jun 2023, David Sankey wrote
(in article <u7jcma$23i70$1@dont-email.me>):

> Can't you copy the URL in Citrix and then paste it into your favourite
> web browser on your Mac to open it on your Mac?

No. No copy’n’paste in Citrix in this environment. Confidential and they,
correctly, lock down the Citrix sessions to stop that.

Cheers,
Ian

On 29 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
(in article <u7japu$23da7$1@dont-email.me>):

> Any chance of forwarding the email? Also why not launch Teams in Windows?

Confidential environment - forwarding somewhat frowned on (and serious
disciplinary if you forward documents). Best to just stay clear.

Why not on Windows is performance - it’s terrible from inside a Citrix
session for me. Could be a real problem, could be to do with the VMs they
spec for it...whichever, it means Skype and Teams aren’t usable remotely.

Cheers,
Ian

On 29/06/2023 23:09, Ian McCall wrote:
> On 29 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
> (in article <u7japu$23da7$1@dont-email.me>):
>
>> Any chance of forwarding the email? Also why not launch Teams in Windows?
>
> Confidential environment - forwarding somewhat frowned on (and serious
> disciplinary if you forward documents). Best to just stay clear.
>
> Why not on Windows is performance - it’s terrible from inside a Citrix
> session for me. Could be a real problem, could be to do with the VMs they
> spec for it...whichever, it means Skype and Teams aren’t usable remotely.

Looks like you need to interest the people responsible for the Citrix
setup in installing this, which provides exactly what you are looking for?

<https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html>

D

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:
> On 29 Jun 2023, Chris wrote
> (in article <u7japu$23da7$1@dont-email.me>):
>
>> Any chance of forwarding the email? Also why not launch Teams in Windows?
>
> Confidential environment - forwarding somewhat frowned on (and serious
> disciplinary if you forward documents). Best to just stay clear.
>
> Why not on Windows is performance - it’s terrible from inside a Citrix
> session for me. Could be a real problem, could be to do with the VMs they
> spec for it...whichever, it means Skype and Teams aren’t usable remotely.

Sounds like the IT dept aren't providing the infrastructure you need.