Microsoft Lens is being pulled from app stores today: Here is how to keep using it

Last month, Neowin reported that Microsoft Lens was being retired and that the Redmond giant was pushing users to OneDrive for scanning files instead. Today marks a key date for this retirement, that being that the app is being pulled from app stores today, though it was still available at the time of writing.

Once the app is pulled, there will be just one key date remaining, that being March 9, when users will no longer be able to scan using the app. If you are reading this while the app is still available, a little hack that you can do is download the app while it's still available, and continue using it for the next month.

Microsoft’s decision to retire Lens is absolutely bizarre outside of cost-cutting and streamlining. On the Google Play Store, the app enjoys a 4.9 / 5.0 rating across 971,000 ratings and 50 million downloads. While many liked the app until recently, people have now started complaining that the app requires login and is uploading personal files to work accounts. At least one disgruntled user, instead of moving to OneDrive, recommended a third-party replacement for Lens.

If you have scans stored in MyScans inside the app, Microsoft says you can still access these while you still have the app on your device, though this feature won’t be supported by Microsoft. Accessing previous scans also requires you to be signed in with your Microsoft account.

Microsoft Lens started out life as Office Lens on Windows Phone in 2014. A year later, the company released the app on Android and iOS. Since then, Microsoft rebranded the app from Office Lens to Microsoft Lens. Now it is being retired.

Let us know in the comments what you think of Microsoft’s decision to retire this product.

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Posted Monday 9 February 2026 at 6:04 pm AEST (my time).

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