Remove Read AI from Teams: Stop It Joining Meetings

To remove Read AI from Teams, first work out whose account sent it. If it's yours, turn off auto-join in Read or disconnect your calendar. If it's in a meeting right now, the host can remove it from the People panel, and anyone can use the opt-out link Read posts in the chat. If it belongs to someone else, lock down the lobby. If you're a Microsoft 365 admin, you can hold bots in the lobby, block the app, and cut off its access in Microsoft Entra ID.

Read AI isn't hiding. Read's own guide says it asks to be let in, shows up as a normal participant, and posts a chat message naming who added it. The steps below use those signals.

Stop Read AI from joining if it's your account

If Read joins your calls because you signed up at some point, the fix is in your Read account, not in Teams.

Turn off auto-join. Go to Account Settings > Meeting Recording > Auto-Join Preferences. With "Auto-join meetings" off, Read is off by default for all your meetings. To keep it for some calls, leave auto-join on and limit it to events you host, or to internal meetings where every invitee shares your email domain. The internal option needs a work email on your Read account.

Skip one meeting. In your Read Calendar, find the meeting and toggle off "Add Read?" at least 15 minutes before it starts. For recurring meetings, you pick one instance or all future ones.

Disconnect your calendar. On Read's Integrations page, under Calendar & Meetings, select each connected calendar and click Disconnect. Read's help center says that once every calendar is disconnected, Read stops trying to join your meetings right away. Past reports stay available.

Delete the account. Sign in, open Account Settings, go to the Advanced tab, and click Delete my account. It's permanent, and reports your account owns go with it unless you belong to a Read Workspace. If you signed up with Microsoft sign-in, sign in the same way, or you may land in a different account.

Remove Read AI from Teams during a meeting

Read is in the call and you want it out. There are two routes.

Remove it as a participant. Open the People panel, find the Read notetaker, open its options, and select Remove from meeting. Read's help center notes there's no confirmation step, and a report is still generated for what was captured. Microsoft's meeting roles table gives "Remove participants" to organizers, co-organizers, and presenters, not attendees.

Opt out from the chat. Anyone in the meeting can do this. In Teams, Read usually posts an opt-out link in the meeting chat:

• The opt-out link: Read leaves, deletes everything it recorded, and creates no report. If you see this link, use it or remove Read as a participant — Read's help center says chat commands won't work in that case.
• No link in the chat? Type Read Stop (Read leaves and still creates a report) or Opt Out (Read leaves, deletes the recording, and creates no report).

For privacy, the opt-out link or "Opt Out" is the one you want. Also read Read's join message in the chat. It names who invited it, so you know who to talk to before next week's meeting.

Keep someone else's Read AI out of your Teams meetings

You can't change another person's Read settings. As the organizer, you do control who gets in without waiting.

Read's help center describes the notetaker as an anonymous, unverified guest in Teams, so it waits in the lobby unless your settings let anonymous people straight in. Per Microsoft's guide to using the lobby in Teams meetings:

1. Open Calendar, select the meeting, and select View event (or Edit series).
2. Select Options, then Meeting access.
3. Set Who can bypass the lobby? to anything except Everyone. "People in my org" or "People who were invited" suit most internal meetings.
4. Set Who can admit from the lobby to organizers and co-organizers, so a presenter doesn't admit it by habit.
5. Select Apply.

During a meeting, the same settings are under Controls > View more options. When Read appears in the lobby, deny it. Read says that in Teams, if even one person says no, it doesn't join.

One limit: the lobby only catches a bot that joins as a participant. Read's help center notes a Read user can also record from Read's desktop or mobile app, where no bot may appear. If a meeting must not be recorded, say so at the start.

Block Read AI in Teams for your whole organization

Microsoft 365 admins get three layers, and each covers something different.

Hold bots in the lobby with a meeting policy

In the Teams admin center, go to Meetings > Meeting policies, open a policy, and find Manage external bots and their access to meetings under Meeting join & lobby. Microsoft's page on managing external bots lists two options:

• When detected, require approval before joining (default): detected bots are marked and held in the lobby, even when the meeting lets everyone bypass it.
• Do not detect bots: bots look like any other external participant.

Microsoft says some bots may not be detected, so pair this with the Who can bypass the lobby and Who can admit from lobby policies. Turning off Anonymous users can join a meeting unverified in the meeting policy (under Meeting join & lobby) keeps the notetaker out entirely, but it also blocks everyone who joins without signing in. Microsoft is retiring the older org-wide switch under Meeting settings and recommends this policy instead. Policy changes can take up to 24 hours.

Block the Read AI app

Read also has an app inside Teams. In the Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps, select it, and choose Block. That removes the Teams app, but the notetaker can still arrive through a meeting link as an anonymous participant, which is why the meeting policy matters.

Revoke access in Microsoft Entra ID

If users connected Read with their work Microsoft accounts, it can appear as an enterprise app in your tenant. In the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Entra ID > Enterprise apps > All applications and open it.

• Properties: set Enabled for users to sign-in? to No. Microsoft says this prevents any tokens from being issued for the app.
• Permissions: revoke organization-wide grants on the Admin consent tab. User consent grants can't be revoked in the portal. Microsoft's guide to reviewing enterprise app permissions covers the PowerShell and Graph steps.

Why Read AI keeps coming back

You turned it off, and it's back. Read's help center gives two explanations.

Someone else invited it. Any invitee with Read and auto-join on can bring it in, and Read says they don't even need to attend. Its join message lists who added it.

You have a second Read account. This usually happens through single sign-on: you signed up with Microsoft, then later logged in with Google under a different email. Search your inboxes for "Welcome to Read" emails from support@e.read.ai and check which address each went to.

On the Microsoft side, two things reopen the door. Microsoft warns that revoking permissions doesn't stop a user from consenting again, so change your user consent settings too. And organizers can override lobby defaults in their own meeting options. Enforcing a value takes a meeting template or sensitivity label, which requires Teams Premium.

None of this means Read is a bad tool. People remove notetakers because everyone on the call should agree to being recorded, and in some places that's a legal requirement. Consent rules differ by state and country, as the overview of call recording laws shows. If your team does want a notetaker, our guide to AI notes makers covers what to compare, and AI for Outlook looks at assistants inside Microsoft's own tools. If the real goal is less meeting admin, an AI executive assistant can handle scheduling and follow-ups without sitting in the call.

Some teams would rather keep AI out of the call and work on notes they own afterward. Taku is an AI-native desktop workspace where you can mirror a working setup, like one that turns your meeting notes into follow-ups, then run it, remix it, and keep it. Taku is in Beta, and the Mac app is available now.

Key Points

• Your own Read account: turn off auto-join or disconnect your calendars.
• In a live meeting, organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can remove Read. Anyone can use Read's opt-out link in the chat (or type "Opt Out" if no link was posted) to remove it and delete the recording.
• Someone else's Read: tighten Who can bypass the lobby and deny the bot.
• Admins: keep the Manage external bots policy on its default, block the app, and use Entra ID controls.
• If Read returns, it's usually another invitee or a second Read account of yours.

FAQ

How do I remove Read AI from Teams permanently?

For your own account, turn off auto-join and disconnect your calendars, or delete the account. Blocking other people's Read company-wide takes an admin, using bot and anonymous-join meeting policies plus Entra ID. Otherwise, tighten the lobby on meetings you organize and ask the person named in Read's join message to change their settings.

How do I turn off the Read assistant?

In Read, go to Account Settings > Meeting Recording > Auto-Join Preferences and switch off "Auto-join meetings". Read stays off by default, and you can still add it to specific meetings from your Read Calendar.

Can I remove Read AI from a Teams meeting if I'm not the host?

Yes. Click the opt-out link Read posts in the meeting chat, and Read leaves and deletes what it recorded. If there's no link, type "Opt Out" (deletes the recording) or "Read Stop" (keeps a report). Removing it from the People panel needs an organizer, co-organizer, or presenter role.

Why does Read AI still join after I deleted my account?

Either another invitee uses Read and has it on for that meeting, or you have a second Read account created with a different sign-in. Check Read's join message for who invited it.

Does blocking the Read AI app in Teams stop the notetaker?

Not on its own. Blocking the app in Teams apps > Manage apps removes the Teams app, but the notetaker joins through the meeting link as an anonymous participant. Use the Manage external bots policy and stricter lobby settings as well.