Microsoft’s controversial Wi‑Fi tracking in Teams is back — but this time with better privacy controls

Last year, I reported on a controversial tracking feature in Microsoft's video conferencing tool, Microsoft Teams. Several reports suggested that the feature would act as a kind of lapdog for your boss, automatically reporting your exact live location when connected to your company's Wi-Fi.

However, the software giant cleared the controversy around the feature, detailing how it's supposed to work. "The feature is designed to facilitate collaboration, not compliance or oversight," Microsoft clarified.

As you might have picked up, Microsoft has delayed the rollout of the feature multiple times, from mid March 2026 to April 2026. However, it has now officially shipped to general availability in Microsoft Teams. It's also worth noting that it is expected to ship to broad availability for Microsoft Places later this year.

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I noticed that Microsoft changed the name of the feature from Automatic Update of work location to workplace check-in via Wi-Fi. I digress, but if Microsoft's track record is anything to go by, naming features and products has never been its strongest suit.

In a new blog post, Microsoft detailed that the feature is "designed to help employees coordinate in-person work by keeping their workplace location up to date when they’re in the office."

Microsoft says the experience is similar to the existing workplace check-in via peripherals. As such, you can keep your workplace location updated by plugging into a configured peripheral like a display or a desk dock. "Organizations enable and configure this feature in their tenant, and individual users control whether and how it is used," Microsoft added.

How will the feature work exactly? "When an employee is in the office and connects their laptop to a configured corporate network, workplace check-in can update their work location for the day, only when enabled by the organization and the individual user," Microsoft explained. "This reduces the need to manually update location while keeping employees in control."

Microsoft says the feature is a new way to help users understand their counterparts' availability at work. "Workplace check-in helps keep the employee’s workplan up to date and includes the ability to check the employee into an existing desk reservation," the company added. "When schedules shift or someone decides to come into the office, employees who choose to use it can have their work location updated without needing to manually adjust their status each time."

• Employees remain in control. Workplace check-in via Wi‑Fi does not replace a user’s choice to share their workplace location, and individuals can configure their setting at any time.
• It does not retain or track information about employee movement or location over time. Workplace location is a current, in-the-moment signal and is not stored as historical data.
• It applies only to workplace contexts. The signal is generated when a device connects to configured corporate office networks through the Teams client and does not extend beyond those environments. Otherwise, if not connected to a configured network in a workplace location, your location will be shown as “Remote”.

It's worth noting that the workplace check-in feature is designed with both organizational controls and individual choice in mind. "Individuals remain in control of whether the feature works on their device," Microsoft added. "If required location settings are turned off, workplace check-in via Wi-Fi will not automatically activate regardless of organizational configuration."

As such, organizations will decide whether to enable the capability for their tenant. What's more, they can decide whether the end-user experience is opt-in or opt-out. You can also update your settings and manually set or override your work location at any time.

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