If someone in your organization adds Matter to a different Microsoft Teams team, that creates a separate Matter workspace with its own settings, members, and billing, including its own free trial. For companies already on a paid plan, this often looks like the account changed or reverted to a trial, when in fact a second workspace was created alongside the original.
Who can use this: Workspace Owners and Admins on every plan. Microsoft Teams only. Using Slack? See Control who can install or remove Matter in Slack.
For an overview of the whole feature, read the Matter setup and rollout guide for Slack and Microsoft Teams. Related articles: Matter bot is disabled in Microsoft Teams and Matter isn't showing in the Microsoft Teams App Store.
There are a few ways to control this. Which one is right depends on whether you want to limit who can use Matter or only who can add it to new teams.
Important: Teams app availability controls installing and using
In the Microsoft Teams Admin Center, app availability determines who can install an app, but the same setting also determines who can use it. Microsoft's own option labels say so:
Everyone: everyone can install and use this app
Specific users or groups: only selected users and groups can install and use this app
No one: nobody can install or use this app
This means you cannot use the Teams Admin Center to stop new installs while leaving Matter usable for everyone. Restricting availability to a small group would also block all other members from giving kudos, redeeming rewards, or interacting with Matter at all.
Option 1: Prevent members from adding apps to a team (recommended)
If your goal is to stop unwanted installs without affecting how your team uses Matter, set this at the team level. A Team Owner can do this:
Go to the team name in Microsoft Teams and click More options ("...").
Click Manage team.
Open the Settings tab.
Expand Member permissions.
Uncheck Allow members to add or remove apps.
Microsoft's guide: Turn off adding apps in Microsoft Teams
Good to know:
This prevents members from adding apps to that team, but it does not stop another Team Owner from installing. Who holds Team Owner rights on each team is the real control point.
The setting applies per team, so it needs to be set on each team you want to protect.
It has no effect on your existing Matter workspace; Matter keeps running normally on teams where it's already installed.
Option 2: Limit Matter availability in the Teams Admin Center
Use this when you want Matter available to a specific set of people only (for example, a pilot group) and you accept that everyone outside that group can neither install nor use Matter.
Go to the Microsoft Teams admin center.
In the left-hand navigation, go to Teams apps, then Manage apps.
Search for Matter and click into the app.
Go to the Users and groups tab.
Adjust the availability to your preferences:
Everyone: Everyone can install and use this app, including people in my org, guests, and external users.
Specific users or groups: Only selected users and groups can install and use this app.
No one: Nobody can install or use this app.
Click Apply to save your changes.
⚠️ Before choosing Specific users or groups, make sure the group includes everyone who should be able to use Matter, not just the admins who should be able to install it. Leaving people out will cause them to see errors when interacting with Matter. See Matter bot is disabled in Microsoft Teams.
💡 Changes made in the Teams Admin Center can take 24 to 48 hours to propagate through Microsoft's caching.
Option 3: Matter Enterprise Grid
If your organization runs Matter across multiple teams, Matter Enterprise Grid lets you control who can add Matter to channels from within Matter itself, without relying on Microsoft Teams settings.
See Enterprise Grid: control who can add Matter in Slack and Microsoft Teams, or contact us at support@matterapp.com to learn more about Enterprise Grid.
Already have an unexpected Matter workspace?
If a workspace was created by mistake and you'd like it removed, email us at support@matterapp.com with the team name or workspace URL and we'll help you clean it up.