check before: 2025-03-01
Product:
Microsoft 365 Apps, Teams, Windows, Windows Virtual Desktop
Platform:
Mac, Online, US Instances, World tenant
Status:
Change type:
Admin impact, Feature update, Updated message, User impact
Links:
Details:
Summary:
Microsoft Teams is updating location sharing settings to enhance privacy and security. Users will have new consent options for location data usage, affecting emergency calls, location-based routing, and Call Quality Dashboard. The rollout starts late March 2025. Fully managed devices are excluded. Educate users on these changes and update documentation accordingly.
Details:
Updated March 7, 2025: Microsoft is updating its policies regarding the sharing of user location data to enhance privacy, improve data security, and ensure compliance with evolving regulatory standards.
To enhance transparency and user control, Teams is introducing a new location consent experience that gives users the choice of when and how Teams can use their location data (specifically SSID & BSSID).
Please refer to the public documentation that will be published shortly.
This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop (version 24H2 or greater) and Teams for Mac desktop. VDI clients will not be supported at this time.
[When this will happen:]
Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late March 2025 (previously mid-March) and expect to complete by late March 2025 (previously mid-March).
General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out late March (previously mid-March) and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March).
Change Category:
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Scope:
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Release Phase:
Created:
2025-01-31
updated:
2025-03-08
Task Type
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Docu to Check
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MS How does it affect me
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MS Preperations
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MS Urgency
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MS workload name
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Pictures
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summary for non-techies**
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Direct effects for Operations**
Emergency Calling Functionality
If users do not consent to location access, emergency calling features may not function correctly, potentially endangering user safety.
- roles: End Users, IT Administrators
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/configure-dynamic-emergency-calling, https://support.microsoft.com/windows/windows-location-service-and-privacy-3a8eee0a-5b0b-dc07-eede-2a5ca1c49088
Call Quality Dashboard Metrics
Disallowing location access will impact the metrics available in the Call Quality Dashboard, hindering IT's ability to troubleshoot and optimize call quality.
- roles: IT Administrators, Support Staff
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/cqd-what-is-call-quality-dashboard, https://support.microsoft.com/office/enable-location-sharing-583dd649-87fc-4b23-aed6-f4e2279297f9
User Experience with Location Consent
Users may experience confusion or frustration if they are not properly educated about the new location consent options, leading to potential misconfigurations.
- roles: End Users, Training Coordinators
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/manage-emergency-calling-policies, https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/nativewifi/wi-fi-access-location-changes
Configutation Options**
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Opportunities**
Enhanced User Education on Location Settings
With the new location sharing settings, users need clear guidance on how to manage their location permissions. This is an opportunity to create educational materials and training sessions to help users understand the implications of their choices regarding location access, especially for emergency calls and IT insights.
- next-steps: Develop training materials and schedule sessions to educate users about the new location consent experience. Include best practices for managing location settings in Teams and the importance of allowing location access for emergency services.
- roles: IT Administrators, Training Coordinators, End Users
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/manage-emergency-calling-policies, https://support.microsoft.com/office/enable-location-sharing-583dd649-87fc-4b23-aed6-f4e2279297f9
Optimization of Emergency Calling Policies
The changes in location settings present an opportunity to review and optimize emergency calling policies based on user consent levels. This can enhance the effectiveness of emergency response and ensure compliance with safety regulations.
- next-steps: Audit current emergency calling policies and user configurations. Adjust policies to align with the new location settings, ensuring that users who allow location access are properly configured for dynamic emergency calling.
- roles: Compliance Officers, IT Administrators, Safety Officers
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/configure-dynamic-emergency-calling, https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/manage-emergency-calling-policies
" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/manage-emergency-calling-policies
Improved IT Insights through Call Quality Dashboard
Encouraging users to allow location access can enhance the data available in the Call Quality Dashboard. This can lead to better insights into network performance and user experience, enabling IT to proactively address issues.
- next-steps: Communicate the benefits of allowing location access to users who utilize the Call Quality Dashboard. Monitor the dashboard for improved data and identify areas for IT improvements based on user location data.
- roles: IT Administrators, Network Engineers, Help Desk Staff
- references: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/cqd-what-is-call-quality-dashboard, https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/nativewifi/wi-fi-access-location-changes
Potentional Risks**
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Data Protection**
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IT Security**
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Hypothetical Work Council Statement**
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DPIA Draft**
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explanation for non-techies**
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change history
| Date | Property | old | new |
| 2025-03-08 | MC prepare | NOTE: After this rollout, dynamic emergency calling may not work as intended unless users allow location detection at the operating system level and app level. This dynamic emergency calling issue includes scenarios where admins have configured a network site for their users (location must be enabled by the user). To ensure emergency calls are properly routed to the nearest public safety answering point (PSAP), please advise your users to accept the new location requests from Teams. This also applies to users who may have consented to location access before the rollout.
You can communicate this requirement by setting the emergency service disclaimer with a custom message that will display in the Calls app in Teams. Ensuring that end users have location turned on is crucial for proper functioning of emergency calls and their safety. Learn more about sending a custom message: Manage emergency calling policies in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn To continue managing video and media settings with the network roaming policy, users must enable Insights for IT admins in Teams Settings > Privacy > Location > Insights for IT admins. Learn more about the changes to location services and privacy policies Windows location service and privacy - Microsoft Support Enable location sharing - Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout) This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. Please notify your users and admins about this change and update any relevant documentation. https://learn.microsoft.com/MicrosoftTeams/manage-emergency-calling-policies https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/network-roaming-policy https://support.microsoft.com/office/enable-location-sharing-583dd649-87fc-4b23-aed6-f4e2279297f9 https://support.microsoft.com/windows/windows-location-service-and-privacy-3a8eee0a-5b0b-dc07-eede-2a5ca1c49088 | Please educate your users on these selections and what works best for your tenant.
If you regularly use the Call Quality Dashboard or leverage Network and Location matching via BSSID, you may want to recommend that users allow location access for those options, otherwise a user's location data will no longer flow through to these services. For emergency calling, you can communicate these changes by setting the emergency service disclaimer with a custom message that will display in the Calls App in Teams. Ensuring that end users have location turned on is crucial for proper functioning of emergency calls and their safety. Learn more about sending a custom message: Manage emergency calling policies in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn Learn more about the changes to location services and privacy policies: Windows location service and privacy - Microsoft Support Enable location sharing - Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout) WiFi Access Location changes - Microsoft Learn This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. Please notify your users and admins about this change and update any relevant documentation. https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/configure-dynamic-emergency-calling https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/cqd-what-is-call-quality-dashboard https://learn.microsoft.com/MicrosoftTeams/manage-emergency-calling-policies https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/nativewifi/wi-fi-access-location-changes https://support.microsoft.com/office/enable-location-sharing-583dd649-87fc-4b23-aed6-f4e2279297f9 https://support.microsoft.com/windows/windows-location-service-and-privacy-3a8eee0a-5b0b-dc07-eede-2a5ca1c49088 |
| 2025-03-08 | MC Summary | Microsoft Teams will introduce new location sharing settings for emergency calls and other features, affecting Windows and Mac desktop versions (not VDI clients). Rollout begins in February 2025 for targeted release and mid-March 2025 for general availability. Users must grant location access at both OS and app levels for proper emergency call routing. | Microsoft Teams is updating location sharing settings to enhance privacy and security. Users will have new consent options for location data usage, affecting emergency calls, location-based routing, and Call Quality Dashboard. The rollout starts late March 2025. Fully managed devices are excluded. Educate users on these changes and update documentation accordingly. |
| 2025-03-08 | MC Last Updated | 02/21/2025 20:41:46 | 2025-03-07T21:14:25Z |
| 2025-03-08 | MC Messages | Updated February 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
Microsoft Teams will soon have a new location sharing setting that will allow users to grant location access to specific features. This change will affect emergency dynamic policy and the network bandwidth policy. This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop (version 24H2 or greater) and Teams for Mac desktop. VDI clients will not be supported at this time. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025. General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-March (previously late February) and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March). | Updated March 7, 2025: Microsoft is updating its policies regarding the sharing of user location data to enhance privacy, improve data security, and ensure compliance with evolving regulatory standards.
To enhance transparency and user control, Teams is introducing a new location consent experience that gives users the choice of when and how Teams can use their location data (specifically SSID & BSSID). Please refer to the public documentation that will be published shortly. This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop (version 24H2 or greater) and Teams for Mac desktop. VDI clients will not be supported at this time. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late March 2025 (previously mid-March) and expect to complete by late March 2025 (previously mid-March). General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out late March (previously mid-March) and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March). |
| 2025-03-08 | MC How Affect | Before this rollout: Location access was governed exclusively at the operating system level. With this update, location consent will also be required from users at the individual application level. As a result, users gain more granular control over which specific application features can access their location.
After this rollout, Teams users can grant location access to certain Teams features. The setting for IT insights for admins feature are in Teams Settings > Privacy > Location. The setting for the Emergency calls feature is in the user's device's location settings. The user can find a link to their device's location settings in Teams Settings > Privacy > Location: If a user consented to location access before the rollout, the user will be prompted to confirm their selection in this new popup that will display after the next Teams version update. If a user has not previously consented, they will not see the popup and can adjust their preferences in Settings. | All new and existing Teams for Work users within your organization will be prompted to specify if they want to keep location detection on for emergency calls only, or if they consent to allowing location access used for IT Admin Insights or troubleshooting ex via tooling such as Call Quality Dashboard or Network and Locations matching via BSSID for emergency calling location.
Important Note - The new Teams location consent flow does not apply to fully managed devices where users are restricted from user granted location access. You can expect current policies to continue working as expected, and users will not be prompted with any of the new location consent dialogs. The new Teams location consent changes will impact the following Teams features: Emergency Calling Location Based Routing Network and Locations matching via BSSID Call Quality Dashboard For all new Teams for Work users, they will first be prompted with an operating system level consent dialog, requesting location permission granting. Existing Teams for Work users who had previously accepted or denied operating system level consent for location will not see this dialog a second time. If location access is allowed, dynamic emergency calling policies will work as configured, and users enabled for Location Based Routing will be able to make and receive PSTN calls. If location access is disallowed, several Teams Call Quality Dashboard metrics will be impacted, and Network and Location matching via BSSID from dynamic emergency calling policies will not work. Users can still manually add their physical address for emergency calls via the Teams Calls app if an admin has enabled ExternalLookupMode for their users. Immediately after consenting to allow location access at the operating system level (or for those who had previously consented to location access), both new and existing Teams for Work users will be presented with a new Teams app level location permission dialog. Users must choose between "Allow all," which grants Teams full location access used for emergency calls and for IT Admin insights and troubleshooting, or "Keep emergency only," which restricts location usage to emergency calling purposes. It is important to note only end users who are configured for a dynamic emergency calling policy will see this version of the dialog. Users without ExternalLookUpMode enabled will see a slightly different version of this in-app consent dialog that excludes emergency calling. Users can modify their operating system or app level location detection preferences at any time via Teams settings under Privacy > Location. On fully managed devices, these settings will be ON by default and can only be disabled via the OS level location setting. |
| 2025-02-22 | MC Messages | Microsoft Teams will soon have a new location sharing setting that will allow users to grant location access to specific features. This change will affect emergency dynamic policy and the network bandwidth policy.
This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop (version 24H2 or greater) and Teams for Mac desktop. VDI clients will not be supported at this time. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025. General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out late February 2025 and expect to complete by early March 2025. | Updated February 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
Microsoft Teams will soon have a new location sharing setting that will allow users to grant location access to specific features. This change will affect emergency dynamic policy and the network bandwidth policy. This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop (version 24H2 or greater) and Teams for Mac desktop. VDI clients will not be supported at this time. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025. General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-March (previously late February) and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March). |
| 2025-02-22 | MC Title | Microsoft Teams: New location sharing settings for emergency calls and other features | (Updated) Microsoft Teams: New location sharing settings for emergency calls and other features |
| 2025-02-22 | MC Last Updated | 01/31/2025 02:05:28 | 2025-02-21T20:41:46Z |
| 2025-02-22 | MC MessageTagNames | Feature update, User impact, Admin impact | Updated message, Feature update, User impact, Admin impact |
| 2025-02-22 | MC Summary | Microsoft Teams will introduce new location sharing settings for emergency calls and other features, affecting Windows and Mac desktop versions (not VDI clients). Rollout begins in February 2025 for targeted release and mid-March 2025 for general availability. Users must grant location access at both OS and app levels for proper emergency call routing. |
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