Teams Desktop vs Web Presence

Three Clients, Three Activity Models

Microsoft Teams runs in three places: a native desktop app for macOS/Windows, a web client at teams.microsoft.com or teams.live.com, and mobile apps for iOS/Android. Each one signals presence to Microsoft's service differently — and the differences matter when you're trying to understand why your Teams dot is yellow even though you're "using Teams."

This is the breakdown.

Desktop: System-Wide Input

The Teams Desktop client (macOS and Windows) registers a system-wide input hook. It sees any mouse movement or keystroke on your computer — not just input within the Teams window. This is the most permissive activity model of the three.

What counts as activity:

• Any mouse movement anywhere on your screen
• Any keystroke in any application
• Active Teams calls or meetings
• Screen sharing initiated from Teams

What doesn't count:

• Screen lock — once locked, the input hook stops working
• Sleep / hibernation — same reason
• Closing the lid of a laptop — also kills the input signal
• Logging out of your OS user account

The desktop client is what most people are talking about when they say "Teams." It's the path of least resistance: as long as your computer is on and you're moving your mouse occasionally, Teams stays Available.

Web: Browser-Tab Focus

The Teams Web client (teams.microsoft.com for corporate, teams.live.com for personal) runs entirely inside Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox. Without system-wide input access, it tracks activity differently:

What counts as activity:

• The Teams tab being in focus AND receiving input (mouse over the tab, scrolling, clicking, typing)
• An active Teams call running in the tab
• Visible/foreground state (the tab is the active tab in its window)

What doesn't count:

• The Teams tab open in a background window or behind other tabs
• Activity in other browser tabs or applications
• Browser minimized or closed
• Working in your IDE or another app for an extended period

Web is more restrictive than Desktop. The browser's tab-visibility API tells Teams when its tab loses focus, and the same 5-minute inactivity threshold applies — but the threshold starts counting the moment focus is lost, not the moment input stops.

Mobile: Foreground Only

Teams Mobile (iOS and Android) is the most aggressive of the three. Microsoft can't rely on background processes to accurately signal presence — mobile OSes throttle backgrounded apps for battery reasons — so Teams Mobile treats foreground/background as the primary activity signal.

What counts as activity:

• The Teams app being in the foreground
• Active Teams calls or meetings
• Notification interactions (briefly)

What doesn't count:

• App in the background
• Phone screen off
• Phone locked
• App killed by OS or by you

The transition is fast. Switch from Teams Mobile to another app and you flip to Away within seconds. This is by design — Microsoft would rather show accurate "this person isn't actively on Teams" than risk a stale green dot.

How Multi-Client Aggregation Works

If you have multiple Teams clients running simultaneously, the presence service uses the most-active one. A few examples:

• Desktop active + Mobile backgrounded: Available (Desktop wins)
• Desktop locked + Web tab in focus: Available (Web wins)
• All clients inactive: Away (after the threshold elapses)
• Web in focus + Mobile foregrounded: Available (either wins)

This is why some people experience inconsistent presence — your mobile may show you as Away while your desktop briefly stays Available, depending on which client most-recently signalled activity.

Where Stay Green On Teams Fits

Stay Green On Teams operates at the same level as your real Teams clients — connecting to Microsoft's presence infrastructure using your session credentials, but from a cloud server instead of your local device. From the presence service's perspective, your account has another active client connected.

The cloud worker isn't subject to any of the limitations above. It doesn't depend on your laptop's lock state, your browser tab's focus, or your phone's foreground state. It signals "active" continuously while you're within your scheduled hours.

Combined with your real clients, the result is a presence that reflects how you want to appear — Available during the hours you've defined, regardless of which (if any) of your local devices is awake at any moment.