Microsoft sets a final date to kill off its beloved Lens PDF Scanner

Microsoft placed one of its best apps, Microsoft Lens PDF Scanner, on the chopping block last year. The app was supposed to be removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store in mid-November, and users were supposed to lose the ability to create new scans entirely after mid-December. Both of these timelines have passed, but Microsoft Lens is still around — not for long, though, so you should already be thinking of switching to alternatives.

Microsoft now notes in a support document (h/t Neowin) that the Microsoft Lens app will no longer be supported after February 9, 2026, and will be removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store on this date. Users will be able to continue to scan documents in the app until March 9, 2026. After that, users will no longer be able to create new scans, but they will still be able to access previous scans, provided the app remains installed on their device, as there will be no official way to download the app.

Microsoft now recommends users switch to OneDrive (instead of the previous Microsoft 365 Copilot app recommendation), but the company overlooks the fact that people using Lens wanted a simple and straightforward PDF scanner, not an all-in-one cloud storage app. Microsoft Lens may not have been perfect, but it did what it promised on the box and got out of the way afterward — just the way single-purpose apps should. Its popularity is evident from the installation and rating statistics on its app store listings, and it’s a shame that the app is being killed.