Microsoft has announced it would be shutting down its mobile document-scanning Lens app. The app would be retired from Android and iOS devices from September 15, and two months later, it would be removed from their respective app stores. Scanning from the pre-installed app would be disabled in December, but existing scans will remain accessible.
Lens was a highly rated app with over 82 million lifetime downloads. The company is now directing users towards Microsoft 365 Copilot for scanning their documents. However, Copilot lacks certain capabilities available with Lens like direct saving to OneNote, Word and PowerPoint, users note.
READ: Microsoft to shut down Skype (May 5, 2025)
The new Microsoft Copilot also appears to not have features like business card scanning to OneNote, read-out-loud functionality and Immersive Reader integration. Lens was also known for not charging subscription fees and for its simple, reliable functionality, which made it an ideal tool for converting printed or handwritten notes into PDFs and other core file types. It was also noted for quick scanning, OCR capabilities, and easy cloud integration. The app was first launched in 2015 (then known as Office Lens), and was originally designed for Windows Phone devices.
“We will continue to invest in new features and improvements there,” the company said about Microsoft 365 Copilot. The Copilot app now supports scanning text directly into Word, tables into Excel, and more. Files saved to OneDrive using this feature will appear in the MyCreations section of the Copilot app.
READ: Microsoft launches AI tool that turns photos into 3D models (August 11, 2025)
Microsoft hasn’t mentioned any details on why it chose to retire the app this year. However, it is not the only popular app to be done away with by the company recently. Microsoft announced the decision to kill off the three-decade-old Microsoft Publisher back in March, with an October 2026 end-of-life date, citing how most of its functionality had now been incorporated in other Microsoft 365 apps such as Word and PowerPoint. Microsoft also shut down video calling service Skype, which used to be one of the most popular ones of its kind before others like Zoom, Teams, and WhatsApp took over. Its use eventually declined with its owner, Microsoft choosing to focus on Teams, and only the Skype for Business feature now remains.
While Copilot’s AI might eventually act as a replacement for Lens, the transition might frustrate loyal Lens users who have long relied on the app, especially because of its tight integration with Microsoft’s other apps. Other alternatives to Lens include Adobe Scan, Google Drive’s scanner, and standalone OCR tools.