Join a meeting as an avatar in Microsoft Teams

Notes:

If you don't have access to the Avatars for Microsoft Teams app, contact your IT admin or see Set up avatars for Microsoft Teams.
Avatars for Teams are currently available on the Teams desktop app for Windows and Mac, and are view-only on the Teams mobile app. For more information, see Avatars for Teams release notes.

Avatars for Microsoft Teams adds a new layer of choice to your meetings. By customizing your avatars the way you want to look, you can be yourself and let people get to know you in a conversation, even with your video turned off.

Jump to a section:

Install the Avatars app
Create a new avatar
Create avatar from photo
Join your meetings as an avatar
Use TTS with the Avatars app
Troubleshooting

Install the Avatars app

On the left side of Teams, select Apps and search for "Avatars".
Open the app.
If the Avatars app doesn't appear in your search results, try selecting More added apps and searching there instead.

Tip: For easy access, pin Avatars to the left side of Teams by right-clicking the app, then selecting Pin.

Create a new avatar

For each of your Teams accounts, you can create up to three distinct avatars. A wide selection of base avatars is available to help you get started and choose the representation that best fits you.

Go to Apps. Search for and open the Avatars app.
Select + > Create new to start from scratch with creating an avatar.
Choose a base avatar to get started creating and select Use Avatar to customize it.
To copy one of your existing avatars and use that to customize further, first select the avatar you would like to duplicate, then select + > Duplicate.

Create avatar from photo

Note: The create avatar from photo feature is currently in private preview, and not available in public preview or general availability.

The create avatars from photo feature recommends avatars to you that more closely match your facial appearance using a photo of yourself that you submit. To make the avatar recommendations, the Avatars app analyzes your submitted photo by detecting points on your face, such as eyes, nose, mouth, and overall face shape and matches it to options available in the avatar builder. It also uses machine learning to predict the most likely style and color of hair, facial hair, brow and eyewear. You can continue customizing your avatar before finalizing your avatar.

Biometric use information

Your photo is not retained or used for any other purpose. The create avatars from photo feature doesn't make any other predictions outside of your facial features.

Join your meetings as an avatar

Select and join a meeting from your Teams calendar. Turn off your camera, then expand Effects and Avatars and select your avatar or Create More to create a new avatar.

Join a meeting as an avatar

Once you’re in a Teams meeting, you can join an immersive space.

Turn on your avatar while in a Teams meeting

Select More ... > Effects and avatars.
On the right side of the screen, select Avatars.
Under Your Avatar, you'll have up to three different avatars to choose from. If you haven't yet customized an avatar, select Open Avatars app to start creating or customizing your avatars.

Use TTS with the Avatars app

Activate the in-app text to speech (TTS) system in the current version of the Avatar customizer. With operating screen readers such as Windows Narrator, you'll be prompted to turn on the TTS system as you enter the application. When you open the Avatar customizer app, focus inside of it. When loading is complete, the system will announce "Press Ctrl + b to activate the TTS system", and at this point TTS will be enabled. The TTS system behaves similarly to screen readers.

To ensure that the self-voice TTS system reads out in the correct language, download the appropriate language package in your operating system:

Mac: Change the language your Mac uses

Windows: Language packs for Windows

For the TTS to read in the proper language in Windows, the text-to-speech support must be downloaded for the language pack of choice. You can see the downloaded language features under the language name.

Troubleshooting

To use avatars for Teams, the minimum hardware spec requires a two-core processor with 6GB of RAM. For the best experience, we recommend a hardware spec of a four-core processor and 8GB of RAM. To learn more, see Hardware requirements for Microsoft Teams.

Common low-bandwidth issues

You may experience the following when using avatars with low bandwidth:

Loading your avatar can take up to 10 seconds or more.
Avatar wardrobe items might not be saved to your avatar after being selected. If this occurs, try saving again.
Selected backgrounds might not be applied to the Avatar preview. If this occurs, try selecting a background again.
Avatar video stream might flicker green when the Teams video resolution changes.

Frequently asked questions

Can guests in a meeting use Avatars?

Yes, any user who has Avatars enabled can use an avatar in the meeting. If they don't, they won't be able to use an avatar even if other people in the meeting can.

Can you use Avatars outside of your tenant?

Yes, if you join a Teams meeting as guest in a different tenant, you can use your avatars as long as you have Avatars enabled in your tenant.