Microsoft is killing this 15-year-old popular app, here's why

Microsoft

If Microsoft Lens is your go-to mobile scanner, you may need a new plan. The company has confirmed it will retire the Microsoft Lens: PDF Scanner app for iOS and Android, phasing it out over the next few months.

From 15 September 2025, the shutdown begins. New installs will be blocked in mid-October, the app will vanish from the App Store and Google Play by mid-November, and by mid-December, users will no longer be able to create new scans. At that point, Lens will be little more than a viewer for existing documents in its MyScans folder.

Microsoft is steering users toward its Microsoft 365 Copilot app as a replacement. The AI-powered productivity app can perform most scanning functions and will let users access existing OneDrive-stored scans under its “MyCreations” section.

However, the swap isn’t seamless. As BleepingComputer notes, the Copilot app is missing some of Lens’s most useful tools. Users can’t save scans directly to OneNote, Word, or PowerPoint, and the handy business card-to-OneNote feature is gone. Accessibility tools like read-aloud and Immersive Reader are also absent. Microsoft says it’s working to add more features, but there’s no firm timeline.

The Lens app, launched in 2015, became a favourite for its quick scanning, OCR capabilities, and easy cloud integration. While Copilot’s AI smarts could eventually surpass it, the transition may frustrate loyal Lens users in the short term — especially those who relied on its tight integration with Microsoft’s other apps.

For now, if you’re a Lens user, you have a few months to either adapt to Copilot or explore alternatives such as Adobe Scan, Google Drive’s scanner, or standalone OCR tools.