Teams Rooms on Android Gets SIP Cross-Platform Join: Zoom, Webex, Meet

Microsoft has started rolling out native SIP-based meeting join for Teams Rooms on Android, a feature that lets users dial into Zoom, Webex, and Google Meet meetings directly from the room console. In a recent update to the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company confirmed the capability will reach general availability by mid-August 2026, with a targeted release beginning in late May 2026 for devices in the Standard release channel. This move eliminates the need for costly Cloud Video Interop (CVI) services or polycom-style workarounds, simplifying the hybrid meeting experience for millions of conference rooms worldwide.

The new ability – officially called “SIP guest join” – addresses a long-standing friction point in multi-platform workplaces. Previously, joining a non-Teams meeting required either a separate device, a complex CVI setup, or manually entering a lengthy dial-in string. Now, supported Android-based Teams Rooms devices will show a “Join with SIP” option when they detect a third-party meeting invitation. The feature uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard to establish a direct, secure audio/video session between the Teams Room and the external meeting service.

Which Devices Get the Feature?

SIP guest join will be available on Teams Rooms on Android devices running version 5.20 or later of the Teams Rooms application. Importantly, not every Android device will support it out of the gate. Microsoft has published a list of validated hardware, which includes current-generation models from leading manufacturers:

• Logitech Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini (running Android 11 or higher)
• Poly Studio X30, X50, and X70 (minimum firmware 4.1.0)
• Yealink MeetingBar A20, A30, and A40 (firmware 133.15.0.20 or later)
• EPOS EXPAND Vision 5
• Audiocodes RXV80 and RXV200

Older devices or those on unsupported firmware will not receive the update, as the feature depends on specific media optimizations and SIP stack enhancements. IT admins should check their device inventory against the official Microsoft documentation before planning deployment.

How SIP Guest Join Works

When a Teams Room on Android receives a meeting invitation that contains a SIP URI (for example, [email protected] for Zoom, or [email protected] for Webex), the room’s touch console will display a “Join” button alongside the usual Teams meeting join option. Tapping that button initiates a direct SIP call to the external platform’s media gateway.

The call is encrypted using TLS 1.3 and SRTP, ensuring that audio, video, and content shared by remote participants are protected. The room authenticates itself using a device-specific certificate, and admins can enforce additional policies such as PIN locks or meeting passwords through the Teams admin center.

Critically, this is not a federated experience. The Teams Room acts as a standard SIP video endpoint, so feature parity varies by platform. Supported capabilities include:

• Two-way audio and video (up to 1080p receive, 720p send)
• Active speaker and content sharing from the external meeting (receive-only)
• Dual-stream support for viewing presentation and people simultaneously
• DTMF controls for mute/unmute, raise hand, and leave meeting

What is not supported? Advanced layouts like Zoom’s “Immersive View” or Webex’s “Stage” will not be rendered. Reactions, chat, and whiteboarding are inaccessible. The room cannot initiate content sharing from the local device. These limitations mirror those found in the Teams Rooms on Windows SIP join preview, though Microsoft notes that future iterations may add screen sharing from the room.

Why This Matters for IT

For IT administrators, the announcement represents a significant cost and complexity reduction. Many organizations currently subscribe to CVI services from providers like Poly RealConnect or Pexip to bridge Teams Rooms to third-party meetings. Those services can run $50–$200 per room per month, and they require constant license management and provider coordination. Native SIP join offers a license-free alternative that relies purely on standard internet connectivity.

“This is the feature we’ve been waiting for,” commented a systems integrator in early feedback on the Microsoft Tech Community. “We can finally standardize on Teams Rooms hardware while still giving users the flexibility to join any meeting type.”

Security-conscious organizations will appreciate that no meeting data passes through a third-party CVI intermediary. The signal path is between the room device and the external meeting platform directly, with Microsoft providing only the SIP signaling broker. Admins can restrict which external domains are reachable via the Teams admin center’s “SIP calling” policies, and all traffic is subject to the same Compliance Recording and Data Loss Prevention controls as native Teams calls.

Deployment Steps

To prepare, admins should take the following steps:

1. Verify device eligibility – Check the manufacturer’s firmware version and ensure the device is running Android 11 or later. Logitech devices may require a manual firmware update via the local web interface; Poly and Yealink units can be updated through their respective cloud management platforms.

2. Configure SIP calling policies – In the Teams admin center, navigate to Voice > Calling policies. Create a new policy (e.g., “SIP Guest Join”) and under the “SIP calls” section, enable “Allow SIP calls” and add the trusted external domains. Common domains include *.zoomcrc.com, *.webex.com, meet.google.com, and *.m.webex.com. Assign this policy to the room accounts.

3. Test with external meetings – Send a test Zoom, Webex, or Meet invitation to a room account. The invitation must include a SIP URI in the body or as a calendar attachment. The room console should display the join button within 30 seconds. If not, verify DNS resolution and firewall rules (SIP uses TCP port 5061 and UDP 5060 for signaling, and a wide range of ephemeral ports for media).

4. Train end users – Place a Quick Start guide near the room console explaining the one-tap join process and any missing features. Notify users that they may not be able to share content from the room and should join from a laptop if they need to present.

5. Monitor call quality – Use the Teams Pro Management portal or device-specific dashboards to track SIP call success rates, jitter, and packet loss. Microsoft will surface SIP call analytics in the Teams admin center’s Call Quality Dashboard shortly after general availability.

Rollout Timeline

Microsoft has outlined the following timeline:

Devices must be in the Standard (or Targeted) release channel to receive the feature update. Microsoft recommends a gradual rollout using ring groups to avoid overwhelming support teams. The update will be delivered via the Teams Rooms app store; no operating system upgrade is needed beyond the minimum Android version.

Competitive Landscape

With this move, Microsoft closes a key functionality gap with Zoom Rooms and Webex devices, both of which have offered native one-touch join to external platforms for years. Zoom Rooms’ “Direct Guest Join” uses a combination of SIP and WebRTC, while Cisco recently expanded its “Webex Interoperability” to include Microsoft Teams meetings. Poly formerly offered the RealConnect service, which is being retired in favor of native join on both teams and Zoom platforms.

Analysts note that by embracing open standards rather than proprietary bridges, Microsoft positions Teams Rooms as a neutral meeting endpoint. “This is a smart strategic play,” said a UC analyst at a recent industry event. “It reduces churn from customers who were considering switching to Zoom Rooms just for the cross-platform join feature.”

Known Issues and Community Concerns

Early adopters in the private preview reported a few wrinkles:

• Audio echo on some Logitech Rally Bar Mini units when joining Webex meetings. A firmware patch is expected in late July.
• Delayed join time for Google Meet calls—up to 45 seconds, compared to 15 seconds for Zoom and Webex. Microsoft attributes this to differences in Meet’s STUN/TURN negotiation and plans to optimize by GA.
• Inability to dial into SIP-based audio-only bridges, such as those from legacy PBX systems. The feature currently targets only video meeting services.
• No support for Cisco Webex Personal Room URIs that require a PIN entry after connecting. Workarounds involve embedding the PIN in the URI, which not all organizations allow.

Feedback on the Microsoft Tech Community thread has been largely positive, though many IT pros request simpler policy management and support for older Android 9 devices still in the field. Microsoft has not committed to backporting the feature.

What’s Next

Microsoft plans to expand SIP guest join to Teams Rooms on Windows by the end of 2026, and a future update will allow the room to present content into a third-party meeting using the HDMI ingest port. The company is also exploring a “reverse SIP” feature that would let external room systems join Teams meetings via SIP, though no timeline is set.

For IT administrators, the immediate task is to inventory existing Android-based conference room devices and begin testing the preview release in a sandbox environment. Those with CVI contracts should audit them now, as many can be phased out once the native join is live across the estate.

Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android SIP guest join represents a significant step toward truly interoperable meeting spaces, reducing hardware lock-in and giving users the seamless experience they demand in a hybrid work world.