PLEASE fix desktop app performance on macOS!! Constant high CPU usage and memory leaks!
I'm running Teams desktop app on macOS Catalina and the performance is TERRIBLE! If I get on a single 1-on-1 video call, the fan on my 2017 MacBook Pro starts spinning like crazy, CPU usage goes up to about 85%, and app begins to use over 1GB of RAM! To put it in perspective, I can get on a Zoom call with 10 other people, CPU usage is at less than 20%, and memory usage never passes 300MB
I've read on other forums to disable GPU acceleration in the settings, but that has only marginally helped.
Please fix your app!

Thank you for your reports. We released client and service updates this week, that address many MacOS-specific performance issues. We are also aware of recent performance issues with Microsoft Teams meetings, especially on laptops and when using external monitors.
The team is working to resolve these issues. In the meantime, please find troubleshooting information here: https://docs.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/troubleshoot/known-issues/teams-slow-video-meetings-laptops-4k.
204 comments
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Simon commented
Please fix it. Cannot do my online workshops via Teams properly :(
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Anonymous commented
Same boat here...Macbook Air with external monitor. Laptop sounds like a helicopter ready to take off. External camera and the video is extremely laggy. Hope this can be resolved soon.
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Jan commented
Teams' performance is critical on my MacBook Pro (2017, 2,3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 16 GB, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB)! The performance issue is critical when using video conference and cable-based internet (via a hub). This is not the case when using WiFi.
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Tommiy commented
For myself, I found that the issue is caused by the "New meeting experience" setting. Seems once set even unselecting it does not revert to normal CPU load. I've tested this and its 100% repeatable. Turning this on at anytime increases the CPU load by approximately 100% on my Mac. Answer is uninstall, delete the application support files, delete the cache files reinstall and start and then never touch that setting. After that the load during video meetings is typically 60%.
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Anonymous commented
I’ve started switching to Teams in the browser for meetings.
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Sorin commented
It's not fixed for me. I can narrow it down to CPU boost and power consumption determined by the video streams themselves. Even though the CPU is not under high load (~20%) in a video call with 5 people, Teams somehow determines the CPU to try to boost a lot and power consumption is pretty close to TDP. Once I stop the incoming video, frequencies drop a bit but CPU power consumption is literally cut in half.
By the looks of it, something weird is going on, I'd assume video is decompressed/rendered using the CPU, instead of the GPU, even if "GPU acceleration" is not disabled in Teams.
This doesn't seem to be dependent on system spec, as it happened both to my 2014 15" Macbook with an Nvidia card, as well as my 2020 16" with an AMD card.If I could access chrome://gpu in the Electron app, I could tell you if it's disabled from the chrome container.. But I can't and there's no dev console available (because I have a production build, obviously).
I hope I don't have to mention what this does to battery life while in a call, it's practically unusable if it's not plugged in.
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Amanda commented
Nothing has improved since the update in August. I took my computer to Apple and had them wipe it completely. I slowly added every app back on over a few weeks - Teams was the last I added and the issue started immediately. I had a 1hr video call today.. I started with a full battery, I had to stay on mute the entire time because my fan was too loud, and my battery was at 9% by the end from the overheating. This is completely unacceptable. This never happens on Zoom.
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Anonymous commented
It's still really bad on macOS
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Anonymous commented
It's October and my laptop still has the same issued. Fan goes crazy and laptop heats up when using teams meeting
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Ian commented
Hi @alex - it's been over 2 months since your post above. Could you update us on progress? As I understand it the current workaround still applies for Mac users to set any connected 4K displays to 1080p low resolution? Thank you.
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Tommiy commented
So this was partially done in August. Its 3 months later, do you have a date for the other part to be done?
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Tommiy commented
Are you really serious about those recommendation just for one application that is not coded properly? Disconnect my docking station and to disconnect my 4k monitors or make every thing low res. Sorry, is microsoft still working back in the early 2000s and don;t have monitors to test this stuff with? If your dev team need a monitor to fix this let me know and I will fund one for them. This is the only reason I could see for this taking 12 months to resolve.
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Doug Liddle commented
Any updates? My Mac runs red hot when running video calls in Teams. It's now basically the only part of the MS infrastructure we can't use in my company and is costing us a fortune in paying for Zoom accounts.
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Peter McDermott commented
Any update on this? My team is mixed PC/MAC and I've noticed the Mac users complaining more about Teams locking up their machines.
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Xander commented
Some of my Team is having the same issues. So far only Teams is affected, but chat is unusable with this lag. We have tried everything.
Oddly enough my virtual Catalina system, through Parallels, is working fine. And we can use the web-app without any issues. It is only the MacOS app.
I tested running the app in low resolution (change it to open in low res), and it works better, but still lags.
Anyone testing Big Sur? Is it misbehaving there as well?
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Thorsten Seidel commented
We have the same problem. If we are just using audio in a call all is ok. But normally we are using the camera and with this we are running in trouble. Teams slows down my MacBook Air and the video is like a robo movie. In the worst scenario teams crashes.
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Anonymous commented
FYI, I have the same problem with Zoom. Both Teams and Zoom slows down the computer and then freezes requiring a reboot.
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Anonymous commented
Still a problem on October 13, 2020. For me it is after 30-50 minutes of running successfully in a Teams meeting. I have a MacBook Pro 15 inch 2017 and run an external DELL U2515H Display. It worked fine until I upgraded to Catalina.
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M G Hodgetts commented
Very frustrating to find that this is a known error, i thought it was just me.
We cannot have a Teams call with the staff without one of us having to re-start or try and free up ram mid-call. Very poor. -
Paul Hjellming commented
I'm also having this issue and would like a solution ASAP. For the sake of not piling on, I want to echo the frustration of other people in the comments here. I need to screen record Teams meetings to use in video editing projects and frankly we'll have to look at another video conferencing solution because Teams is so unusable. So much for focusing on customer needs...