RIP, Microsoft Lens, a simple little app that’s getting replaced by AI

Sometimes it is good to have a simple application that does a good job without a lot of noise.

Microsoft Lens was this type of application: a mobile document for mobile phone documents that transformed paper documents, work cards, receipts and anything else in easily readable digital files. Microsoft says that the application is now stopped, as it directs its users to the Copilot AI chat instead.

According to a new support document, the lens will be retired from iOS and Android devices that start on September 15, 2025, then remove it from the Apple and Google Play app on November 15, 2025. Existing users will be able to continue using the scanning capabilities in the application until December 15, 2025.

Microsoft Lens (then known as Lens Office) was launched in 2015, and developed from a Windows Phone app. Although its basic functions were similar to other mobile scanning applications, they did not try to collect users for some jobs or push them to a subscription – rare in the application store today.

Instead, it conducted its mission of converting any note – handwritten or otherwise – the document, receipt, work card, or even the white blackboard in the file format you choose, such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel or Images. It also offered a variety of compact filters to enhance the resulting image, reduce the document, convert it into a more severe black and white version, and more.

You can then save the file to a Microsoft, other online services or camera roll. It was simple, and worked well.

The imminent closing of the application was first discovered by the Bleeping Computer website, indicating that users are directed to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which lacks all functions in the lens. Although COPILOT can handle a scanning, it does not support the saving these examination directly to Oneenote, Word, PowerPoint, as it does not provide work card surveying operations to Oneenote. It also lacks the features of the lens arrival, such as the loud and immersive reader integration, as the site notes.

Despite its age, the lens is still somewhat common, as it got more than 322,000 downloads in the application store and Google Play over the past thirty days, according to the App Intelligence Appigors data. Since January 2017, it has been downloaded 92.3 million times, as the company’s data appears.

Microsoft has not yet responded to the request to comment on its decision to close the lens.