Generally it’s good to have a easy app that does one factor nicely with out lots of fuss.
Microsoft Lens was that kind of app: a cell doc scanner that turned paper paperwork, enterprise playing cards, receipts, and anything into simply readable digital recordsdata. Now that app is being discontinued, Microsoft says, because it directs its customers to its Copilot AI chat app as a substitute.
In keeping with a brand new help docLens will likely be retired from iOS and Android units beginning on September 15, 2025, then faraway from the Apple App Retailer and Google Play on November 15, 2025. Current customers will be capable of proceed to make use of the app’s scanning capabilities by means of December 15, 2025. After that date, no new scans will likely be attainable, however entry to prior scans will stay within the app so long as it stays on the person’s system.
First launched in 2015, Microsoft Lens (then often called Workplace Lens) advanced from an software initially designed for Home windows Cellphone units. Whereas its core performance was much like different cell scanning purposes, it didn’t attempt to upcharge customers for sure performance or push them right into a subscription — a rarity in at the moment’s App Retailer.
Picture Credit:Microsoft
As an alternative, it carried out its process of turning any notice — handwritten or in any other case — doc, receipt, enterprise card, and even whiteboard scribbles into the file format of your alternative, like PDF, Phrase, PowerPoint, Excel, or photos. It additionally supplied a wide range of built-in filters to boost the ensuing picture, lighten the doc, flip it right into a sharper black-and-white copy, and extra.
You possibly can then save the file to certainly one of Microsoft’s apps, different on-line providers, or your digital camera roll. It was easy, and it labored nicely.
The app’s impending shutdown was first noticed by the location Bleeping Pcwhich factors out that customers are being directed to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which lacks all of the performance present in Lens. Whereas Copilot can deal with scanning, it doesn’t help saving these scans on to OneNote, Phrase, or PowerPoint, nor does it save enterprise card scans to OneNote. It additionally lacks Lens’ accessibility options like read-out-loud and Immersive Reader integration, the location notes.
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Regardless of its age, Lens stays pretty well-liked, having pulled in over 322,000 downloads on the App Retailer and Google Play over the previous 30 days, in line with information from app intelligence supplier Appfigures. Since January 2017, it has been downloaded 92.3 million instances, the agency’s information reveals.
Microsoft has not but responded to a request for touch upon its resolution to close down Lens.
