How to Transfer a Meeting or Call to Another Device in Microsoft Teams

In a modern hybrid working environment, professional schedules rarely stay pinned to a single desk. You might join an early morning strategy meeting on your laptop, only to realise you need to leave for an off-site appointment, or you might start a call on your smartphone during your commute and wish to switch to your dual-monitor desktop workstation upon arriving at the office. Leaving a call, restarting Teams on your second device, and requesting to be readmitted disrupts meetings and signals unprofessionalism.

Microsoft Teams includes a native, frictionless device handoff feature. You can seamlessly transition active audio and video calls between your PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android device with a single tap—without dropping audio, disconnecting from participants, or interrupting the presenter. In this guide, we walk through how to transfer an active Teams call between devices, use Companion Mode to run both devices simultaneously, and forward business calls to colleagues.

Understanding Teams Cross-Device Handoff

When you are logged into Microsoft Teams with the same Microsoft 365 work account across multiple devices (such as your Windows PC and your smartphone), Teams constantly monitors active meeting states in the cloud. As soon as you join a call on one endpoint, the Teams client on your second device detects the session and automatically displays a prominent banner at the top of the app: “In progress: [Meeting Name]”.

Tapping or clicking this banner presents two distinct operational modes:

• Transfer to this device: Hands over the active audio, microphone, and video feed to your new device completely. As soon as the connection establishes, Teams gracefully terminates your session on the first device, ensuring zero audio feedback or ghost presence.
• Add this device (Companion Mode): Joins the meeting from your second device while keeping your first device connected. Teams automatically mutes the microphone and speaker on the second device to prevent acoustic feedback loops, allowing you to use your phone as a mobile whiteboard, remote controller, or document camera.

How to Transfer a Call to a Mobile Device or PC

To transfer an ongoing call from your computer to your smartphone (or vice versa):

1. While actively participating in a call on your first device, open the Microsoft Teams app on your second device (e.g. your iPhone or Android phone).
2. At the very top of the screen, you will see a purple notification banner stating: “In progress: [Meeting Title]”.
3. Tap the Join button situated on the banner.
4. Teams will prompt you with two options: select Transfer to this device.
5. Tap Transfer now.
6. Teams will instantly route your active audio and video stream to your second device, while simultaneously closing the meeting window on your primary computer.

To participants on the call, the transition is completely invisible: your name does not leave the participant roster, and your audio stream continues uninterrupted.

Using Companion Mode (Add This Device)

If you do not want to abandon your computer setup, but wish to leverage your smartphone’s camera, touch screen, or mobility during the presentation:

1. Open Teams on your secondary mobile device while the meeting is live on your laptop.
2. Tap Join on the top notification banner.
3. Select Add this device.
4. Tap Join now.

Teams joins the call in Companion Mode. Your mobile microphone, speaker, and audio output will be automatically turned off by default to prevent devastating room feedback. You can now:

• Tap Share on your phone to present your mobile screen, share a photo of a physical diagram, or broadcast your mobile camera while speaking through your desktop headset.
• Use the phone interface to monitor chat messages, respond to polls, or raise your virtual hand without covering presentation slides on your desktop monitor.

How to Forward or Transfer a Call to a Colleague

If you are handling customer support or incoming client enquiries and need to route a one-to-one phone call to another teammate in your organization:

1. In your active call window, click the three dots (More) in the top toolbar.
2. Hover over or select Transfer. You will see two choices:
   • Transfer: A “blind” transfer that routes the caller directly to your colleague’s phone immediately.
   • Consult then transfer: Recommended; allows you to contact your colleague via chat or voice first, brief them on the caller’s issue, and only forward the call once they confirm readiness.
3. Type your colleague’s name or email address in the search box.
4. If choosing Consult then transfer, click the Chat or Call button to check with them. Once they confirm, click the Transfer button in the banner.

Smooth Network Transitions (Wi-Fi to Cellular 5G)

If you are transferring a call to your smartphone because you are walking out of your home or office building, consider your network transition:

• Transfer Before Stepping Out: Execute the “Transfer to this device” while still connected to your office Wi-Fi. Once the call is established on your mobile device, walk out. Teams handles the subsequent transition from Wi-Fi to 4G/5G cellular data much more gracefully than executing a device transfer across a fluctuating edge network.
• Cellular Data Roaming: In the Teams mobile app, go to Settings > Data and storage and verify that Reduce data usage is set to On cellular networks if you have limited mobile data quotas.

Troubleshooting Device Transfer and Audio Echo Issues

• No “In Progress” Banner Appears: If opening Teams on your second device does not show the meeting banner, pull down on your Teams chat list to force a refresh. Ensure both devices are signed into the exact same Microsoft 365 tenant account.
• Acoustic Screech / Feedback: If a terrible screeching feedback loop occurs when using Companion Mode, a participant has manually unmuted the speaker or microphone on the second device in the same physical room. Ensure all companion endpoints remain muted.
• Bluetooth Headset Handoff: If using multipoint Bluetooth earbuds (like AirPods Pro or Jabra Evolve2), pause speaking for two seconds during the transfer to allow the headset to renegotiate its primary audio channel to the new device.