Services
Affected Platforms
Summary
Microsoft Teams will introduce one-time email passcodes to verify anonymous external presenters in events, rolling out from April to June 2026. Tenant admins can enforce verification policies, allowing organizers to control external presenter access by requiring sign-in or passcodes, enhancing event security and flexibility.
Details
Introduction
One-time Email Passcodes provide a way for tenant administrators and event organizers to verify anonymous, external presenters invited to Microsoft Teams events. When enabled, anonymous external presenters are prompted to enter a one-time email passcode before joining an event and receive a Verified label next to their name after joining.
External presenters with personal or work Microsoft accounts are asked to sign in to their account for verification instead of receiving a one-time email passcode.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 557975.
When this will happen:
- Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late April 2026 and expect to complete by early May 2026.
- General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-May 2026 and expect to complete by late June 2026.
How this affects your organization:
Who is affected:
- Tenant administrators managing Microsoft Teams policies
- Event organizers scheduling Teams events with external presenters
- External presenters joining Teams events anonymously
What will happen:
- Tenant administrators can require verification for anonymous external presenters by configuring a new Teams Admin Center policy or by using PowerShell.
- Based on the tenant-level policy, event organizers will have additional options that apply to all external presenters for an event:
- Verify external presenters, allowing only invited accounts to join.
- Verify external presenters, allowing uninvited users to wait in the lobby.
- No verification (available only if the tenant policy also allows no verification).
- This distinction allows organizers to restrict an event to invited external presenters or allow more flexibility by permitting uninvited users with the event link to join through the lobby.
- By default, the policy is set to None, allowing external presenters to join anonymously.
- When the policy is set to eOTP, all external presenters must verify their identity either by signing in with a Microsoft account or by entering a one-time email passcode.
What you can do to prepare:
- Review how external presenters are used in your Teams events.
- Decide whether anonymous external presenters should be required to verify their identity.
- Configure the external presenter verification policy in the Teams Admin Center or by using PowerShell.
- Inform event organizers about the new verification options available to them.
Learn more: Allow anonymous presenters in a live event in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)
Compliance considerations:
| Compliance area | Explanation |
|---|---|
| New customer data stored | Email addresses are used to deliver one-time passcodes to anonymous external presenters. |
| New way of communicating between users or tenants | Introduces email-based verification communication between tenants and anonymous external presenters. |
| Admin control introduced | A new Teams Admin Center policy allows administrators to require or disable verification for external presenters. |