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Native Bluetooth personal peripherals for Microsoft Teams

  • Applies to: Microsoft Teams

Native Bluetooth personal peripherals refer to personal headsets or speakerphones that are directly paired and connected to the integrated Bluetooth radio of a host device, such as a PC or mobile phone, without requiring an adapter or also called a dongle. This article provides a comprehensive overview of Native Bluetooth personal peripherals and outlines the certification requirements necessary for compatibility with Microsoft Teams.

Certification requirements

The certification program ensures that audio personal peripherals offer rich audio quality and full functionality with the Teams app experience. Functionalities included in this certification are:

  • Calling
  • Mute
  • Teams button

Certified devices work with plug & play functionality with no extra configuration required and offer call control with Microsoft Teams. They also offer Mute sync status between the device and the Teams desktop client and vice versa. The certification program scope includes the use of the Teams desktop client only.

Pairing Native Bluetooth peripherals to a Windows PC

To pair a Native Bluetooth Peripheral to your Windows 11 PC, start by ensuring that your peripheral and PC meets the minimum requirements.

  1. Place the peripheral in pairing mode following the instructions from the manufacturer.
  2. If the peripheral and your Windows PC support Swift Pair, you may see a notification prompting you to pair the device with a single select.
  3. If you don't see this notification when the device enters pairing mode, the device can be paired manually through the Settings app. For more information about pairing Bluetooth peripherals with Windows, see Pair a Bluetooth device in Windows - Microsoft Support.

Minimum Requirements

Hardware Requirements

PCs with an integrated Bluetooth radio is required. PCs that don't come with integrated Bluetooth radios and use aftermarket USB Bluetooth adapters aren't recommended.

For a better and more consistent experience, we suggest that customers should check if they have the latest Audio and Bluetooth drivers.

On PCs with Intel processors, it's recommended to use Intel® Core™ 12th Gen Intel processors or newer. We recommend ensuring that your Intel-based PC has the following minimum driver versions before using Native Bluetooth peripherals:

  • Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST):
    • Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2): 20.42.11233.0 or newer
    • Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 1): 20.40.11112.5 or newer
    • Intel Core 12th Gen / 13th Gen: 10.29.00.11261 or newer
  • Intel Bluetooth: 23.70.x or newer
  • Intel Wi-Fi: 23.70.x or newer

OS and software requirements

  • Windows: Windows 11
  • macOS: Not supported yet

Minimum Teams desktop app version

  • Teams App version: 24335.208.3315.1951 or newer

Known issues

  • Teams button won't work consistently in the following cases:
    • Connecting more than one Bluetooth peripheral directly to the laptop at the same time.
    • Logging into more than one tenant under the same Teams desktop client.
    • When the Teams desktop client is closed and reopened, it needs a few seconds for the Teams button to work again. If this doesn't work, turn off and on your headset to resolve the issue.
  • Mute status sync from the Teams desktop client to the device works only with Teams-certified peripherals.

Checking driver versions

Checking iSST driver version

  1. Open Device Manager.
  2. Locate Sound, Video, and Game Controllers and expand it.
  3. Find Intel Smart Sound Technology (iSST).
  4. Right-click and select Properties and go to the Driver tab to check the driver version.

Checking Intel Bluetooth driver version

  1. Open Device Manager.
  2. Locate Bluetooth and expand it.
  3. Find Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth.
  4. Right-click and select Properties and go to the Driver tab to check the driver version.
  5. Download the latest version from Intel Wireless Bluetooth Drivers for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Checking Intel Wi-Fi driver version

  1. Open Device Manager.
  2. Locate Network Adapters and expand it.
  3. Find Intel(R) Wi-Fi Component.
  4. Right-click and select Properties and go to the Driver tab to check the driver version.
  5. Download the latest version from Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Drivers for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Certified Native Bluetooth peripherals

This certification is currently for Classic Bluetooth devices. The Microsoft Teams Certification Program has not started certifying Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio headsets yet. We will update this article when the time comes. We do not anticipate issues with headsets that support both Classic Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE Audio, but the latter mode is not certified for Teams.

To see a list of supported Bluetooth personal peripherals, see Certified personal peripherals.

Troubleshooting

The performance of a peripheral in Native Bluetooth mode is impacted by the Bluetooth radio on the host PC. We recommend installing the latest firmware updates for both peripherals and Bluetooth radio.

If problems persist, start by reviewing the Bluetooth troubleshooting steps at Fix Bluetooth problems in Windows - Microsoft Support.

A small portion of users may need to continue to use a USB dongle to connect to the peripheral instead of using a Native Bluetooth connection to their Windows PC. This can happen in scenarios such as working in a high-density wireless environment, if the PC's Bluetooth radio is heavily used by multiple paired devices, or with certain PCs with older Bluetooth radios that are no longer receiving manufacturer support.