Microsoft Retires Office Lens App on iOS and Android

Microsoft is officially retiring its Office Lens scanner application for iOS and Android devices. The app, originally launched in 2015, will cease to be supported starting February 9th and will become non-functional after March 9th.

This decision comes as Microsoft consolidates the app's portable scanner features directly into the OneDrive platform. Users will still be able to capture images of documents, whiteboards, and receipts, but they will now do so through the OneDrive app. These images can be saved, edited, and converted into Word or PDF documents.

By integrating these capabilities into OneDrive, Microsoft considers the dedicated Lens app redundant. Current users are advised to transition to OneDrive to continue using these scanning features after the March deadline.

Microsoft has confirmed the removal of its Lens scanner app from mobile marketplaces in the coming months. The timeline for this retirement is specific, giving users a window to transition to the new workflow.

The application will officially lose support on February 9th. Following this date, the app will remain functional for a short period, but it will stop working entirely on March 9th.

Once the app is removed from the App Store and Google Play Store, existing installations will no longer receive updates or functionality. Users attempting to open the app after March 9th will likely find it inoperable.

The primary reason for the shutdown is the integration of Office Lens features into OneDrive. Microsoft views a dedicated scanner app as redundant now that these capabilities are native to their cloud storage service.

Users can continue to perform the same tasks they did in Lens directly within the OneDrive app. The specific features migrating to OneDrive include:

• Capturing pictures of whiteboards
• Scanning documents and receipts
• Saving and editing images digitally
• Converting pictures into Word or PDF documents
• Automatically cropping and rotating images

These tools allow for a seamless transition for users who rely on mobile scanning for document management. The functionality remains largely the same, just housed within a different application.

Office Lens was first introduced to the mobile market in 2015. Over the last decade, it served as a portable scanner for millions of users on both iOS and Android platforms.

The app gained popularity for its ability to turn smartphones into instant scanners. It was particularly useful for digitizing physical documents and whiteboard notes for immediate digital storage and editing.

While the app is being retired, its legacy continues through the features now embedded in OneDrive. Microsoft is effectively folding the technology into a broader ecosystem rather than maintaining it as a standalone product.

Microsoft's decision to retire Office Lens marks a shift toward consolidating productivity tools within the OneDrive ecosystem. While the standalone app will disappear from app stores after March 9th, the core scanning and document conversion capabilities remain available to users.

For users accustomed to the Lens interface, the transition requires downloading and learning the OneDrive app's scanning features. This move streamlines Microsoft's mobile app portfolio and ensures that portable scanning remains a core feature of its cloud storage service.