Reeeemix! Why you should change your team ringtone right now
The standard ringtone of Microsoft Teams always scares me and pulls me out of my home office idyll. But it's available as a groovy remix. I would have liked to have known that earlier.
Deep in thought I type my text. Keystroke by keystroke. Nothing pulls me out of my concentration. From my tunnel. No starving cat. No washing machine announcing the end of its wash cycle. Nor the tomato sauce that has been simmering peacefully on the cooker for a few hours. Nothing at all. Except for... three sounds. The sounds of horror. Sounds that herald doom and disaster. It's:
The Microsoft Teams ringtone.
When it goes off, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I go into gasping breaths. Freeze. Cold sweat runs down my back. Just the idea of the three notes from hell pulls me out of my dreams at night. I think I'm suffering from ITCA (incoming teams call anxiety)
.
And all because someone has to discuss something on the phone that could have been done with a short e-mail. All my concentration goes down the drain. The texts too. The days, which are far too short, go by even faster. It is pure horror! And I like my colleagues. Just not when they call and the team-phone sound of doom goes off beforehand. That's the problem with the ITCA.
The rave remix solves all my problems
Happily, that has now changed. For about a month now, there's been a techno remix of the boring but scary Microsoft ringtone. Here you go.
Now, if my boss or anyone else suddenly calls, the first thing I do is have a mini-home office rave and let it ring some more. My ITCA has improved considerably since then. And the subsequent phone calls are not so bad anymore. I can sleep peacefully again.
Installation in one minute
You want to dance to the remix and celebrate little raves in your home office too? Then you are only three clicks away: Go to "Settings" in Microsoft Teams and there to the "Calls" menu. Under "Ringtones" you can select the remix in the drop-down field. Done.
If you want to dance for a particularly long time, you can increase the ringing time before the call is diverted. I now dance for half a minute before I answer the call. By the way, it is unfortunately not possible to upload your own ringtones to Teams - so we have to make do with the sounds from Microsoft.
Inspired by TikTok
The idea for the ringtone remix did not come from Microsoft itself, but from TikToker Calum Newton, found on the social media platform at CandyMoore.mp3. He wanted to be more "hyped" before a teams call, so he created a re-recording. The remix of the TikToker still contained Bill Gates' voice - but Microsoft left this out when implementing it in Teams.
If even the remix isn't enough, you can find more ringtones in the Teams settings - and I feel like ten years ago when we were still sending ringtones to each other and accidentally signing up for some overpriced, semi-scruffy Jamba subscription.
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.