Microsoft is killing off its popular Microsoft Lens scanner app for Android and iOS, starting on September 15, 2025.
Launched in 2014, originally for the now-deceased Windows Phone, the mobile document scanner allowed users to turn their paper documents, including things like invoices and receipts, into readable digital copies like PDFs or Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files. The entirely subscription-free app would go on to rack up over 100 million downloads on Google Play and roughly 136,000 ratings on the US App Store.
According to the announcement, new installs from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store will be disabled in mid-October, and Microsoft Lens will be removed from both app stores from November 15.
If you already have the app installed, you will be able to create new scans until December 15. Your existing scans will remain accessible in the app’s MyScans folder, as long as the app remains installed, even though you won’t be able to create any new ones.
If you’re unsure how to replace Microsoft Lens, Microsoft recommends that users try the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which offers similar functionality. Scans saved to OneDrive when using Copilot will then be accessible via the MyCreations section in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
Still, Microsoft 365 Copilot doesn’t offer quite the same set of features as Microsoft Lens, at least right now. Bleeping Computer notes that while Copilot offers most of the same features, it does not allow users to save their scans directly into other parts of the Microsoft ecosystem like OneNote, Word, or PowerPoint. It also doesn’t provide any read-out-loud features or integrations with Microsoft’s reading assistance tool, Immersive Reader.
Recommended by Our Editors
Microsoft didn’t give out any details about why it had specifically waited until now to kill off the popular app, but we’ve seen other highly adopted Microsoft apps get dropped this year.
Microsoft announced the decision to kill off the three decade old Microsoft Publisher back in March 2025, with an October 2026 end-of-life date, citing how most of its functionality had now been incorporated in other Microsoft 365 apps such as Word and PowerPoint. Meanwhile, the consumer version of the once-ubiquitous communications tool Skype bit the dust in May, with Microsoft telling its users to head to Teams instead.
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
About Will McCurdy
Contributor
