Summary
- Microsoft will discontinue Outlook Lite on October 6, 2025.
- Switch to Outlook Mobile to keep security, features, and upcoming AI (Copilot) enhancements.
- Outlook Lite was tiny and hit 10M downloads but likely axed to funnel users into AI-rich Outlook.
It’s bad news for people who aren’t a fan of the direction Microsoft is going with Outlook. One of its popular mobile variants, Outlook Lite, garnered significant attention and downloads, becoming a cornerstone for many people’s workflows. However, it seems like it wasn’t that crucial for Microsoft to keep, as it has announced that Outlook Lite is getting the chop, only three years after it came out. And while the company never stated why it’s doing this, I have a sneaking suspicion you and I both know why.
Microsoft is getting rid of Outlook Lite for mobile devices
As spotted by Neowin, Microsoft made a post on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center portal with the ID MC114853. In the post, Microsoft explains that it’s getting rid of Outlook Lite, which will begin on October 6th, 2025. Once this date arrives, Microsoft will prevent people from installing Outlook Lite on their devices and will slowly begin winding down the service for those still using it.
If you’re using Outlook Lite, here’s Microsoft’s official advice on what to do next:
To continue enjoying a secure and feature-rich email experience, we recommend switching to Outlook Mobile. Here’s how to get started:
- Within the notification section in your Outlook Lite app, select the Install Microsoft Outlook banner.
- Or open the Google Play Store.
- Search for Microsoft Outlook.
- Download and install the app.
- Log in with existing credentials to access email, calendar, and files.
In case you’ve never heard of it, Outlook Lite came out in 2022, and it was designed to make as little an impact on your mobile device’s hardware as possible. Upon release, it was only 5MB, although it has since ballooned to 50% of that, now standing at 7.5MB. According to Neowin, it managed to hit 10 million downloads in August 2024, but that’s seemingly not enough to save the app from deletion.
So, why is Microsoft getting rid of Outlook Lite? The company never gave a reason, but if I’m to add my speculation, it’s because Microsoft wants its apps to be feature-rich. The Redmond giant has been on a massive drive to add AI to every facet of its users’ lives, spreading the Copilot assistant far and wide. Outlook Lite is definitely not the place where Copilot can thrive, so there’s a good chance Microsoft is axing it to help funnel people into Outlook Mobile, which has all the AI-enhanced features.
If you think now’s the time to find another email client, check out that one time one of our writers ditched Outlook for Gmail.
