Microsoft Teams: Retirement of CAPTCHA for meeting join

Microsoft Teams will retire CAPTCHA for meeting joins by August 2026, replacing it with a default-on bot detection feature that requires organizer approval for bots. This ensures continuous bot protection without join friction. Tenant admins and organizers should review new policies but no immediate action is needed.

[Introduction]

Microsoft Teams is retiring CAPTCHA for meeting join to improve accessibility, reduce join friction, and modernize protections against automated participants. This change follows the release of a new, default‑on capability that detects external meeting assistant bots and provides organizers with increased visibility and control during the meeting join process, as previously announced in Message Center post MC1251206 (Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 558107).

To ensure a smooth transition:

• The new bot detection capability will be released and available to customers before CAPTCHA deprecation occurs.
• There will be no gap where meetings are left without baseline bot protection.
• CAPTCHA will be removed from meeting join flows and admin surfaces only after the new capability is fully in place.

[When this will happen]

• Early May 2026: The Require verification by participants (CAPTCHA) policy will be locked and can no longer be enabled.
• Late July 2026: CAPTCHA policy removed from PowerShell.
• Late August 2026: CAPTCHA policy removed from the Teams Admin Center UI.

Note: Dates are subject to change based on the release of bot identification (MC1251206/Roadmap ID 558107). 

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft Teams tenant administrators
• Meeting organizers with anonymous or external participants

What will happen

• The CAPTCHA meeting policy will be retired and removed.
• CAPTCHA challenges will no longer appear during meeting join.
• A new, default‑on bot detection capability will provide baseline protection.
• Detected bots will require organizer approval to join meetings (recommended default).
• There will be no gap in bot protection during the transition.

[What you can do to prepare]

• No immediate action is required.
• Review the new meeting policy when it becomes available in the Teams Admin Center.
• Keep the default setting that requires organizer approval for detected bots.
• Update internal documentation or helpdesk guidance related to meeting join and lobby controls.

[Compliance considerations]

• Admin control introduced: A new meeting policy governs how detected external bots are handled during meeting join.