Loud Fan noise when using Microsoft Teams

This is a Microsoft Office Teams issue.

I don't have this issue when running Zoom, BlueJeans or other Video Conferencing Tools.

In regards to longevity, I'm not sure.

Obviously, less heat will put less stress to the MacBook's hardware.

Watch out for MS Teams Updates in hope this will be fixed soon.

Hello karoline80,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It sounds like your fans run higher when using a specific app on your Mac. I’m happy to provide some information.

When you run app that uses the CPU more, the fans man run at a higher speed. You can read more below:

See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity - Apple Support

You may also find helpful information here:

About fans and fan noise in your Apple product - Apple Support

Take care.

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities.

I want to make sure you reach the right team for help with your MacBook Air. I recommend that you contact Apple Support directly. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Contact Apple Support

Thanks for that link, but you didn't answer her question about affecting the Macs longevity or if its normal?

I too have a MacBook Air 2019 that I just bought November last year, and it does the SAME thing. Only when I use Microsoft teams and It goes away once I quit the program.

is there a way to decrease the sound or have our Macs run this program in a way that it won't affect it?

It's expected behavior. Playing video can be resource-intense and video conferences even more so. The fan kicks in to cool the machine.

Won't affect the longevity, and if you try to stop the fan from running, you risk the CPU overheating and failing.

~Lyssa

Hi. I have the same issue and your response was still not helpful. I have the issue with Microsoft Teams as well. Less so on Zoom or Skype. Is there a setting where i can consume less CPU and therefore not work the fan so much? Many thanks,

Gavin

I agree the hissing when I am using Teams on two screens is absolutely AWFUL. I have everything else closed. I always end up giving up and using one screen and then the hissing stops. Any advice gratefully received.

I have found that using just one screen really helps. I’m also wondering if turning off my Bluetooth keyboard (which I’ve had to buy because I can’t get my laptop repaired during lockdown) helps too.

I can confirm that this is still an issue and only happens when I am running Microsoft Teams on my Macbook Pro 13" (2019 version). It's extremely hot and loud for the duration of the call and only begins to slow down and somewhat cool off about 5 minutes after ending a Teams call. This does not happen with any of the other video chat applications.

Is there a GPU-underclocking feature on Teams or on my laptop that I could enable specifically for Teams use? It all seems tied to the GPU which would explain the massive amount of heat.

I just found this and it seems to be a reasonable solution to address the issues with Microsoft Teams specifically. See page 5 of the thread and the note from Noenflux regarding the ability to "disable GPU accleration" within Microsoft Teams settings.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/microsoft-teams-activates-the-discrete-gpu-in/28fb47df-9e04-4097-8868-3851ee523d0a?page=5

thank you for mentioning the Microsoft discussion of this. I now have my GPU hardware acceleration disabled in settings. However I am not at all sure this has fully resolved the noise and heat—I will see tomorrow when I do three teams sessions in succession. I’m on a recent MacBook Air. I plug it in because my battery would be dropping like a stone if it wasn’t plugged in. And the issue is definitely eased by only using one screen, but that is ridiculous. This is as people are saying caught in the gap between Microsoft and Apple seemingly, with users floating in between!

I have same issue. I can confirm that this is totally isolated to MS Teams who are seemingly playing catch up all over the place to try and not loose marketshare to zoom. In the last few weeks they have rushed out greenscreen backgrounds and now more that 4 people onscreen at one time amoungst other mainly pointless features. I've tried the disable GPU but still get the same issue, I'm going to be experimenting over the next few days just running teams in browser (Chrome / firefox / safari) and see if any of those solves the issue and vote with my mouse by deleting their desktop app. Good luck all. Next step is to just refuse any Teams invites.

The best fix for this I have found is to stop using the desktop application. Use the one on the web. It is a cut down version but at least it won't melt your mac. best of luck. Microsoft will never make mac friendly software. fact.

I have the same issue when using zoom or when streaming live for a long time.

The computer gets very very hot and the fan starts. Wonder if this is a problem with my particular machine or is it a problem with this whole model.

I recently received a brand new MacBook Air 2020 in the mail, and set it up to begin using it 2 days ago. Yesterday I kept getting an alert saying that my computer was working too hard streaming a movie on Amazon. Just about 30 minutes ago I was on the Teams app, video conference, and the laptop started roaring...battery dropped rapidly. After the conference call it was a few minutes for the noise to stop. This is ridiculous. Also, the battery lasts only around 4 hours, when all I'm doing is web browsing and using Microsoft O365 and Zoom. I've always had HPs, this was my first Apple laptop...going to return it and get an HP again. It's too bad. I heard such great things about Macs. While it may be the fault of Microsoft, not Apple's fault...I can't work this way.