Here's what changed, what's still pending, and what IT staff should do before the November deadlines.
The new GitHub app: notifications and Copilot in one place
The main change is the merger of two separate GitHub integrations. The new GitHub app in Microsoft Teams brings GitHub notifications and GitHub Copilot coding together, helping teams turn repository updates into action. Before this, Teams users needed one app for notifications and another for Copilot. There were two separate apps: one for GitHub Notifications and another for GitHub Copilot. These are now being merged into a single app, simply called GitHub.
The app is more than a notification feed. Users can get notifications in channels, group chats, or private chats, then reply with @GitHub to investigate issues, fix bugs, run tests, or create pull requests. The agent doesn't start from scratch, either. @GitHub uses the linked issue or pull request and conversation context to understand the task.
GitHub describes the workflow in three steps:
- Notification. A GitHub issue notification arrives in a Teams conversation.
- Request. Someone mentions @GitHub and asks it to investigate the issue, fix the bug, and create a pull request.
- Review. Your team reviews, tests, and merges the proposed changes.
The third step is the important one for anyone worried about AI agents writing code. GitHub's announcement doesn't say Copilot merges anything on its own. When Microsoft first previewed the Copilot-powered Teams app, it said the app respects existing repository and organization policies, like branch protections, to ensure all work still goes through approved human review. In practice, your existing branch protection rules still decide what gets merged.
Neowin's report says to @mention "GitHub Copilot." GitHub's own wording is @GitHub, and that's the name to type in Teams.
Who can use it
The Copilot features have plan requirements. GitHub's September changelog says the Slack and Teams integration is in public preview for organizations on GitHub Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise. Usage counts against existing Copilot entitlements and can be managed with existing Copilot cloud agent budgets. GitHub also says some capabilities are rolling out gradually and may not be available in every workspace yet. Microsoft's Message Center notice confirms the renamed app brings GitHub Copilot capabilities to users with an eligible GitHub Copilot license.
That September changelog also describes what Copilot can read in Teams: inline images, forwarded messages, and channel and thread history. It says Copilot checks for similar issues before opening a new one and keeps a link back to the conversation where the request started.
Summary: Notifications and the Copilot agent now live in one app, called GitHub. Copilot does the work, but merging is still up to people.
The November 16 deadline
The legacy app has a retirement date. If you use the legacy GitHub app, which will be renamed "GitHub (deprecated)" and retired on November 16, install the consolidated GitHub app to keep using Copilot in Teams.
Microsoft's Message Center notice, MC1515929, adds admin details that Neowin's report doesn't include. The worldwide rollout timing is: We will begin rolling out in mid-October 2026 and expect to complete by mid-November 2026. Moving off the old app takes more than installing the new one. Users of the legacy app should remove it from their Teams conversations and add the new app, named GitHub, to those conversations before this date. Teams with the separate notifications app have a different task. Users of GitHub Notifications: The app must be manually updated to the latest version. GitHub says existing notification capabilities keep working after the update.
Migration checklist
Based on GitHub's setup instructions and Microsoft's notice:
- Turn on the GitHub-side policies. GitHub says an administrator must enable the Copilot cloud agent and cloud sandboxes for Teams to work.
- Check Teams app access policies. Microsoft recommends that admins review your organization's Teams app access policies to ensure the new GitHub app is available to users who need it.
- Check resource-specific consent (RSC). This is easy to miss. If your organization restricts resource-specific consent (RSC), configure the applicable team and chat consent policies to allow the GitHub app's required RSC permissions so GitHub Copilot can use chat and thread history as context. If RSC is blocked, Copilot will have less conversation context to work with.
- Replace the legacy app in each conversation. Remove the old app and add the new one in every channel or chat that uses it.
- Connect accounts. In the consolidated app, mention @GitHub and follow any prompts to connect your GitHub account and select a repository.
- Test notifications. Microsoft suggests asking users to confirm that the new GitHub app delivers notifications for the repositories and event types they follow to the intended Teams conversations.
Summary: Finish the move before November 16. Don't forget the RSC and app access policy checks.
Coming in November: new AI and Copilot controls for meetings
The second change is still on the roadmap. Microsoft 365 roadmap item 577399, "Enhanced Copilot and AI controls for meetings," is listed as in development, with general availability targeted for November 2026 in the worldwide cloud. Microsoft's summary says organizers will manage who can enable and access AI in their meetings. IT admins will get a simpler policy model that covers AI during meetings and in post-meeting experiences.
To see why a simpler model would help, look at the current setup. Today, admins go to Meetings > Meeting policies in the Teams admin center and set the Copilot option under Recording & transcription. Microsoft's documentation lists four values:
| Admin center value | PowerShell value | Organizer default | Can the organizer change it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| On | Enabled | Only during the meeting | Yes |
| On with saved transcript required (default) | EnabledWithTranscript | During and after the meeting | No |
| On with transcript saved by default | EnabledWithTranscriptDefaultOn | During and after the meeting | Yes |
| Off | Disabled | Off | Yes |
That table also interacts with the separate transcription policy, which Microsoft documents as changing how Copilot behaves. Microsoft's documentation also notes that turning Copilot off for a meeting disables recording and transcription. Admins have a lot of overlapping settings to keep straight, which explains Microsoft's promise of "more predictable administration."
What we don't know yet: the roadmap entry doesn't say which AI features the new model will cover, how it maps to the existing -Copilot policy values, or whether current policies will migrate automatically. Hold off on rewriting your meeting policies until Microsoft publishes the documentation.
Coming in November: default meeting templates
The third change is also on the roadmap. Third-party tracker webchecks.io, which records Microsoft's roadmap feed, lists "Microsoft Teams: Default meeting templates" as in development for November 2026. It covers Teams and Outlook in the Worldwide and GCC clouds. Neowin reports that admins will be able to create tenant-wide default templates with the organization's preferred privacy and compliance settings, so organizers don't have to configure them for each meeting. Only organizers with a Teams Premium license will be able to use them.
Microsoft's current documentation for custom meeting templates shows what's possible today. Premium admins can set defaults, lock options so organizers can't change them, or hide options entirely. The options include lobby bypass, end-to-end encryption, watermarking, recording, chat, and the "Allow Copilot" setting. Making a template the default would save organizers from picking the right one every time.
Sensitivity labels take priority over templates. Microsoft says that when a sensitivity label configures an option the template also sets, the label's setting wins. Admins should plan their templates with that in mind.
Summary: Default templates should make the compliant settings the starting point for every meeting, but only organizers with Teams Premium licenses get them.
What this means for admins
Taken together, the three changes put more AI into Teams and give admins more control over it. Copilot can now write code from a Teams chat, while Microsoft is reworking how admins control AI in meetings. Both are worth keeping an eye on.
There are trade-offs:
- Licensing: The GitHub agent requires Copilot Business or Enterprise, and default templates require Teams Premium. Smaller organizations on basic plans will get less from these updates.
- Preview status: GitHub calls the integration a public preview with a gradual rollout. Don't assume every capability is available in your tenant on day one.
- Shifting dates: Microsoft's roadmap dates are targets. Webchecks.io exists partly to track how often those dates move.
What to do now: finish the GitHub app migration before November 16. Review your current meeting policies, templates, and sensitivity labels so you know your baseline when the new controls arrive. Then wait for Microsoft's documentation before changing anything else.