Microsoft is removing core file management tools from its Microsoft 365 Copilot app on iPhone and iPad. An official roadmap update confirms the change, which will redirect users to the separate OneDrive app for most file tasks. This includes browsing folders, setting permissions, and downloading files.
The update is planned for mid-October and follows a recent decision to also cut document editing from the app. These moves finalize the app’s shift from an all-in-one Office hub to a dedicated chat tool for the Copilot AI. Users will now need separate Word, Excel, and OneDrive apps for full functionality.
From Office Hub to AI Chat: A Strategic Transformation
The change, detailed in Microsoft’s 365 Roadmap under ID 501277, marks the final step in a significant strategic pivot. The app, which began life as a unified Office mobile experience, is being systematically dismantled to focus exclusively on its AI assistant.
For years, the application served as a convenient mobile dashboard for Microsoft 365, allowing users to create, view, and manage documents from a single interface. Its rebranding to ‘Copilot’ signaled a new direction, but few expected the removal of its core Office functions.
The timeline is now clear: by mid-October, both document editing and advanced file management will be gone. This forces a fragmented experience where users must jump between the Copilot, Word, Excel, and OneDrive apps to complete tasks that were once unified.
This transformation has been framed by some observers as the end of a once-convenient, all-in-one productivity tool. Microsoft’s strategy appears to be forcing a multi-app workflow, prioritizing a dedicated, streamlined interface for its flagship AI over the integrated suite it once championed.
Unbundling in the Age of AI Expansion
This decision does not exist in a vacuum. It aligns with Microsoft’s aggressive expansion of its entire Copilot ecosystem throughout 2025. The company is betting heavily that AI agents will redefine productivity, a vision that demands dedicated and powerful user interfaces.
This unbundling is the result of Microsoft’s all-in bet on agentic AI. The ‘Copilot Wave 2’ release was a declaration of this new era, introducing an Agent Store and powerful IT governance tools via the Copilot Control System (CCS) to manage the new landscape.
The goal is an ecosystem where specialized AI agents like Researcher and Analyst automate complex workflows. This vision requires a simple chat interface as the primary command center, a role the streamlined Copilot app is now designed to fill.
This enterprise push is mirrored by an aggressive consumer strategy. The company began the year by integrating Copilot into its Personal and Family plans for an extra fee, while also offering a pay-as-you-go model for businesses to lower the barrier for AI adoption.
Microsoft’s vision is for a future where AI agents are proactive partners. As Microsoft Corporate Vice President Charles Lamanna previously stated, “If a person can use the app, the agent can too.” This focus on agent capability likely explains the drive to simplify the main Copilot app into a pure conversational interface.
Security and Growth Hurdles in the Copilot Ecosystem
However, this rapid AI rollout has encountered significant turbulence. The push for more autonomous and deeply integrated agents creates a complex new attack surface, a reality highlighted by a critical vulnerability discovered in June.
The “EchoLeak” flaw (CVE-2025-32711) demonstrated how an attacker could use a single email to turn Copilot into a data exfiltration tool. The incident underscored the inherent risks of AI systems that blend trusted internal data with untrusted external inputs.
The EchoLeak incident was alarming because it introduced a new threat class: ‘LLM Scope Violation.’ This attack tricks the AI into misusing its authorized access, turning a trusted assistant into an insider threat, according to researchers at Aim Security.
This new vulnerability is difficult for traditional security tools to detect, as it uses natural language instructions, not malicious code. It highlights a fundamental challenge in securing the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems that power modern AI.
The incident raises profound questions about accountability in an automated world. As Anthropic CISO Jason Clinton warned about the rise of virtual AI employees, “In an old world, that’s a punishable offense… But in this new world, who’s responsible for an agent that was running for a couple of weeks and got to that point?” This challenge is central to the secure deployment of the very agents Microsoft is championing.
These external security threats are compounded by internal pressures. The reported stagnation in Copilot’s user growth has created a high-stakes environment for Microsoft’s AI division, led by high-profile hire Mustafa Suleyman.
By stripping the Copilot app back to its core AI function, Microsoft may be aiming to clarify its purpose and drive adoption of the chat-based features it sees as the future. Yet, it does so by sacrificing the integrated convenience that many users valued, a trade-off that will test its mobile user base.
