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A Microsoft Teams notification that will not go away is usually not a broken message counter. The badge combines several sources: unread chats, meeting chats, channel mentions, followed threads, tag mentions, and new items in Activity. Clearing the Chat list alone may therefore leave the Teams icon showing a number.
These steps apply to the current Teams desktop and web experience, including the badge behavior rolled out worldwide in May and June 2026.
What the Teams badge is counting
The Teams taskbar or app badge combines counts from Chat, Teams, and Activity. The number is not simply the number of unread messages.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems| Source | What can create the notification | How to clear it |
|---|---|---|
| Chat | An unread message in an unmuted one-to-one chat, group chat, or meeting chat | Open the chat or mark it read |
| Teams | An unread personal @mention, tag @mention, or followed thread in a channel | Open the channel or read the item from the relevant quick view |
| Activity | New mentions, replies, likes, meeting events, invitations, cancellations, team events, and app activity | Open Activity or mark its items as read |
Muted chats do not add to the Chat count. However, a channel mention, followed thread, or Activity item can still be responsible for the badge even when every visible chat appears read.
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In the split-app layout, Chat counts chat items and Teams counts channel items separately. Purple numbers in quick views or collapsed sections identify items contributing to the badge.
Fastest fix: clear every unread view
- Open Chat in Teams.
- At the top of the chat list, select Unread. If it is not visible, open the available quick views at the top of the list.
- Open each result, or use the list’s More options (…) > Mark all as read.
- Check @Mentions or Mentions, and Tag mentions if available. Open the results that still show as unread.
- Open Followed threads and read any listed replies.
- Open Teams and repeat the process for the Unread, @Mentions, and Followed threads views.
- Open Activity. Use More filters > Unread to isolate unread activity, then select More options (…) > Mark all as read.
Quick views only filter the list. Selecting Unread or @Mentions does not itself mark anything as read and does not change notification settings.
If the badge remains after marking everything read
1. Check meeting chats
Meeting chats are counted as chats. A message in a recent meeting chat can be easy to miss because it is not always prominent in the normal Chat list. Use Chat’s Unread view and search for the meeting or participant. Open the meeting chat and read the newest item.
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A channel can contribute to the badge because somebody used your personal @mention or a tag @mention. The channel may not look unread in the ordinary team list.
In Chat or Teams, open the @Mentions or Tag mentions view, then open each result. You can also open the channel shown in the result directly and read the mentioned post.
3. Review followed threads
Teams automatically follows a thread when you reply in it, are mentioned in it, or somebody starts a thread from your original message. Replies to that thread can therefore generate a badge even if the parent channel is not obvious.
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Open the Followed threads view and read the outstanding reply. To stop receiving notifications from an individual thread, open the message or reply’s More options (…) menu and toggle its follow option off. If a channel is following too many threads automatically, hover over the channel name and select More options (…) > Channel notifications. Turn off Follow all new threads, adjust Include replies if shown, and select Save.
4. Clear Activity separately
Visiting Activity clears the Activity-specific number, but older items can still be visible in the feed. To clear them explicitly, open Activity > More options (…) > Mark all as read. Activity entries remain in the feed for up to 30 days before expiring; their continued visibility does not necessarily mean they are unread.
5. Check app-generated notifications
A Teams app can create Activity notifications without leaving an obvious unread chat. Go to Settings > Notifications and activity and inspect the notification categories. The Apps section may not appear until an app has been added to Teams and has generated its first notification.
For Activity-specific controls, use Activity > More options (…) > Notification settings. Disable or change the app notification that is generating unwanted activity rather than muting every chat.
Stop the notification without deleting the message
If the issue is repeated alerts rather than a genuinely unread item, change the relevant notification rule:
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- Go to Settings > Notifications and activity.
- Adjust notifications for chats, channels, mentions, replies, meetings, or apps.
- For one channel only, hover over its name and select More options (…) > Channel notifications.
- Choose whether notifications appear in Activity and banner or only in Activity, depending on the options displayed for that channel.
- Select Save where required.
Muting a chat prevents that chat from adding to the badge, but it does not remove the underlying message. Channel mentions and followed threads have their own notification behavior, so mute the channel or change its channel-notification settings when appropriate.
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Reset a stuck Teams badge on Windows
Use these procedures only after checking the unread and Activity views. Cache clearing can repair a stale local badge, but it does not remove unread items stored in Teams.
New Teams for Windows
The safest Microsoft-supported reset is:
- Open Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
- Find Microsoft Teams.
- Select More options (…) > Advanced options.
- Select Reset.
- Start Teams again and sign in if prompted.
Warning: Reset deletes Teams app data, including personalization settings. Do not describe this as a reset that preserves all personal settings.
You can instead clear the New Teams cache manually:
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- Press Windows key + R.
- Paste this path and select OK:
%userprofile%appdatalocalPackagesMSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbweLocalCacheMicrosoftMSTeams- Delete everything inside that folder.
- Start Teams again.
Classic Teams for Windows
Only use this path if you are troubleshooting the discontinued Classic Teams client:
- Quit Teams.
- Press Windows key + R.
- Enter:
%appdata%MicrosoftTeams- Select OK, delete the files and folders inside, and restart Teams.
The %appdata%MicrosoftTeams location is not the official cache path for the current New Teams Windows app.
Reset Teams cache on a Mac
New Teams for macOS
- Quit Teams with Command (⌘)-Q.
- Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
- Run both commands:
rm -rf ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2- Open Teams again.
Classic Teams for macOS
Quit Classic Teams, open Terminal, and run:
rm -r ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/TeamsThen restart Teams. The first launch can take longer while Teams rebuilds its cache files.
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When the problem is only on an iPhone or Android phone
Compare the mobile badge with Teams on Windows or Mac. Microsoft currently lists an incorrect iOS notification count as a known issue under investigation: desktop Teams may show the correct count while the iPhone still shows one or more unread items.
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iPhone or iPad
- In Teams, select your profile picture.
- Go to Notifications > Open settings.
- In iOS Settings, select Notifications > Teams.
- Turn on Allow Notifications and the notification types you want.
If Teams does not appear in iOS notification settings, Microsoft recommends uninstalling and reinstalling Teams. That recommendation applies to the missing-permission entry; reinstalling is not a guaranteed fix for every stuck badge.
Android
- Open Teams and select your profile picture.
- Go to Notifications > Open settings.
- In Android settings, turn on Show notifications for Teams.
Also check whether Teams is deliberately suppressing notifications while you use another device: Profile picture > Notifications > Block notifications > When active on other devices.
Last resort: report the notification problem
If the badge survives the unread, mention, followed-thread, Activity, cache, and mobile-permission checks, capture the Teams version, operating system, device where the badge is wrong, and whether desktop shows a different count. On mobile, submit a report through Profile picture > Settings > Help and feedback > Send feedback.
Do not assume the visible number identifies one specific message. In the 2026 badge experience, purple dots and numbers replace the older mention and Important charms, so the fastest diagnosis is to inspect the Unread, Mentions, Tag mentions, Followed threads, and Activity views rather than repeatedly reopening the main Chat list.
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Why does Teams show a notification when all my chats are read?
The badge can come from Activity, a channel personal or tag mention, a followed thread, an unread meeting chat, or an app-generated notification. Check Teams, the Mentions and Followed threads views, and Activity separately.
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Does opening the Unread quick view clear Teams notifications?
No. Quick views filter the list but do not mark items read. Open the results or use the list’s More options (…) > Mark all as read command.
Why does a muted chat still seem related to a Teams notification?
Muted chats do not contribute to the Chat count, but the same account may still have a channel mention, followed thread, Activity item, or app notification creating the badge.
Can I clear all Teams notifications at once?
There is no single universal button for every source. Use Mark all as read in the Chat or Teams list, then use Activity > More options (…) > Mark all as read. Mention and followed-thread results may still need to be opened or unfollowed.
Will clearing the Teams cache delete my messages?
Cache clearing is intended to remove local files, not server-stored conversations. However, the New Teams Windows Advanced options > Reset command deletes app data, including personalization settings, so it can require local configuration to be restored.
Why is the Teams badge wrong only on iPhone?
Microsoft currently documents an incorrect iOS notification count as a known issue under investigation. The desktop client may show the correct count while iOS continues to display an unread badge.
The Bottom Line
Start with Chat/Teams > Unread, then check @Mentions, Tag mentions, Followed threads, and Activity > More filters > Unread. Mark each source as read before clearing the cache. If only the phone badge is wrong, especially on iOS, it may be a Microsoft-side issue rather than an unread message you have missed.
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