How to Enable 8x8 Phone App Users to use the PSTN Calling Feature in the 8x8 for Microsoft Teams App

Updated: 10/06/2025

Overview

Due to Microsoft's announced enforcement of Phone System license checks for PSTN calling, the 8x8 Phone App is officially non-functional and can no longer be supported as of September 30, 2025.

However, 8x8 has released a new feature in the existing 8x8 for Microsoft Teams app:

This new feature ensures that 8x8 Phone App users can continue to access outbound PSTN calling from within Microsoft Teams.
It does not require users to be assigned a Microsoft Teams Phone Standard license or any other Microsoft voice-related license.
It is included with 8x8 X Series licenses at no additional cost.
PSTN calling is handled by 8x8 Work applications, so installation of 8x8 Work and concurrent login is required as part of this PSTN calling solution.

This article will show you how to enable 8x8 Phone App users to use this new PSTN calling feature, which integrates with 8x8 Work for PSTN outbound calling.

IMPORTANT

Please see the following resources for detailed information and full instructions regarding the 8x8 for Teams app and its new PSTN calling feature:

Applies To

8x8 Phone App
8x8 for Microsoft Teams App (also known as the 8x8 Teams app)
Microsoft Teams
8x8 Work

Procedure

Follow the steps below to convert 8x8 Phone App users to the 8x8 for Teams app’s new PSTN dialing functionality.

Once completed, this process will disable the Phone App and remove its users from the 8x8 Voice for Teams admin portal.

To enable this functionality:

Install the Teams to 8x8 Presence Sync

At minimum, the one-way Teams to 8x8 Presence Sync option must be enabled on your service for the 8x8 for Teams app’s new PSTN dialing functionality to work.

Complete instructions for this are documented here: 8x8 Presence Sync with Microsoft Teams.

Download and Install 8x8 Work for Desktop

Users must have 8x8 Work installed and logged into for PSTN dialing from Microsoft Teams to function.

Download 8x8 Work for Desktop onto individual Teams user computers.
Install 8x8 Work.
Users must then log into 8x8 Work.

Note that inbound calls will not appear in Microsoft Teams in this case, and are handled only by 8x8 Work.

Disable the 8x8 Phone App

First, the 8x8 Phone App must be disabled:

Log into the 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams admin portal. You can access the admin portal from the 8x8 Admin Console Voice for Microsoft Teams tile.

In the Services > Teams tab of the admin portal, click the Phone App toggle switch to disable it (Off).
Click Save.
Click Sync Now and allow the sync process to complete.

Install 8x8 Teams app

A Teams administrator should then ensure that the 8x8 Teams app is available to users.

To do this, either Teams users can add the app to their Microsoft Teams app bar themselves, or a Microsoft administrator can pin the 8x8 Teams app for users from the Microsoft Teams admin center.

Please see the 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams App for Administrators guide for app installation and app pinning instructions.
Microsoft also provides instructions for pinning Teams apps for their users, here.
If needed, you can also find the 8x8 for Teams app in the Microsoft AppSource.

Important Notes:

The 8x8 Teams app will appear as 8x8 in the Microsoft Teams admin center.

Teams Policy & App Pinning: Also keep in mind that 8x8 Phone App users may need to be moved to a different Teams policy after the Phone App is disabled, which typically will be the Teams Global policy. This is dependent on your Phone App service configuration and specific need.

Whichever is used, the assigned policy can be edited to pin the 8x8 Teams app to appear in a specific location of Teams users’ app bar.

Teams User Steps

Once the above steps are completed, Microsoft Teams users must log out of and log back into Teams to complete the enablement of those changes.

They can then access the 8x8 Teams app from their Teams app bar, and log into the app to access all of its features, including initiating outbound PSTN calls.

For 8x8 Teams app user login and usage instructions, please see our 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams App for User Help guide.