If you’re still using Microsoft’s Office apps on a Windows 10 Mobile device, you may want to switch to a different platform soon.
The Redmond, Washington-based company announced that come January 12th, 2021, it would no longer support Office apps on the Windows 10 Mobile platform. This follows the initial announcement that the company would end support for Windows 10 Mobile on December 10th, 2019.
“Microsoft remains committed to providing a great Office experience on phones for consumer, commercial, education, and government users through the iOS and Android apps which continue to be supported. You can get the Office iOS and Android apps through the app stores for those platforms,” the company wrote in a post on its Tech Community forum.
The company says its Office mobile fall under its Modern Lifecycle Policy, which means the company will provide bug and security fixes to its apps through until the end of its lifecycle, also known as it’s end of support.
For users, this means they won’t be able to install the Windows 10 Mobile Office apps after January 12th, 2021. For those who have the apps installed already, they will continue to work as normal but Microsoft will no longer provide technical support for issues, bug fixes or security fixes.
In the post, Microsoft recommended that anyone who wishes to use Office on mobile should switch to the latest apps on iOS and Android. While the Windows 10 Mobile apps will still work, the lack of security updates could be a significant issue going forward.
Thankfully, you do have a little over a year to make the transition if you haven’t already, but you’d be better off doing it sooner rather than later.
Source: Microsoft
