Microsoft to Retire its Outlook Lite Android App in October

Microsoft is about to pull the plug on Outlook Lite, a lightweight version of its email client that it released on Android back in 2022. The app will disappear from the Google Play Store on October 6, 2025, and it will stop working a couple of months after that date.

“The Outlook Lite app is being retired so we can focus our investments on the Outlook Mobile app, our flagship Android experience, which provides better functionality and user experience. We recommend transitioning to the Outlook Mobile app, where ongoing development and support will continue,” Microsoft said on its Microsoft 365 Message Center.

The announcement comes just a year after Microsoft celebrated 10 million downloads for Outlook Lite. The company initially designed Outlook Lite for users in emerging markets with phones with just 1GB of RAM. At launch, Microsoft said that the app uses less battery than the regular Outlook app for Android, and it’s also optimized for slower and 2G and 3G networks.

Outlook Lite later added multi-account support and SMS integration, allowing users to send and receive emails and text messages in a single app. However, it turns out that Microsoft would rather focus its resources on the main Outlook for Android app, which integrates cloud storage services and Microsoft’s Copilot assistant. Overall, Outlook for iOS and Android is a really solid email client, though it will show you ads unless you pay for a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.