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Microsoft to Retire Lens App, Pushes Users Toward Copilot
August 8, 2025
Microsoft is shutting down its Lens mobile app — the simple, no-fuss document scanner that many users have relied on for years. The company will begin retiring the app from iOS and Android on September 15, 2025, with complete removal from the Apple App Store and Google Play scheduled for November 15, 2025.
Existing users will still be able to scan documents until December 15, 2025, after which no new scans will be possible. Previous scans will remain accessible as long as the app stays installed on the device.
Launched in 2015 as Office Lens, the app started as a Windows Phone tool before expanding to other platforms. Unlike many scanning apps, it didn’t hide features behind a paywall or push subscriptions. Users could digitize handwritten notes, receipts, whiteboard scribbles, and documents into formats like PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or image files — with filters to enhance clarity and readability. Files could be saved directly to Microsoft services, other online storage, or the device’s camera roll.
The closure was first reported by Bleeping Computer, which noted that Microsoft is directing users toward its Microsoft 365 Copilot app. While Copilot includes scanning capabilities, it lacks several Lens features — such as saving scans directly to OneNote, Word, or PowerPoint, preserving business card scans in OneNote, and offering accessibility tools like read-aloud and Immersive Reader.
Despite being nearly a decade old, Lens remains popular. Data from Appfigures shows it has been downloaded more than 322,000 times in the past month alone, with a total of 92.3 million downloads since January 2017.
Microsoft has not provided a reason for shutting down Lens.
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