Microsoft Merges Copilot Apps as Features Disappear Starting Aug. 18

Microsoft is streamlining its Copilot apps as several consumer features are set to retire on August 18. The company is merging its consumer Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps into a single experience, with the first feature cuts beginning on August 18 and the broader app migration continuing into September. Mobile and web rollout will commence globally in mid-August, followed by Windows and Mac versions in mid-September.

Personal, work, and school accounts will share the updated app, but chats, content, and data will remain separated by account type.

Existing Copilot users will transition to the updated app, retaining their chats and content, while users of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will notice navigation and icon changes, as well as access to Copilot Chat. This move is part of a broader simplification strategy, similar to Microsoft's retirement of the separate Copilot Mode in Edge in May. The firm's podcast feature will be retired on August 18 for both free and paid users, with previously created podcasts and shared links becoming inaccessible afterward.

Deep Research, a feature for creating detailed reports, is also retiring on August 18 for consumer Copilot users. However, Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers can continue generating reports using Researcher, with access to earlier saved reports through chat history. Group Chats will undergo changes during the migration, with existing threads, messages, and shared content not carrying over to the updated experience. Users are advised to review conversations containing critical information before the transition.

Microsoft is also phasing out standard Copilot Voice in waves, moving the animated character to its Learn Live experience, while maintaining Copilot Voice availability. The company has warned that Copilot Health may experience temporary unavailability during parts of the rollout due to scrutiny over its health-data privacy model.

The merger maintains the Microsoft Copilot name, combining chat and image creation with Microsoft 365 capabilities, but does not merge personal and corporate identities. Enterprise security, compliance, and governance controls will remain in effect, with Microsoft Entra work and school accounts remaining separate from personal Microsoft accounts.

Administrators may need to identify workflows dependent on disappearing features and communicate the migration schedule to users. Research users have an alternative provided by Microsoft, while Podcasts and Group Chats require special attention before their respective changes. This merger precedes Microsoft's broader effort to unify Copilot chat, coding, cowork, and autopilot capabilities, with CEO Satya Nadella outlining a "super app" concept in July.

Project Solara illustrates how Microsoft is extending AI agents to managed workplace devices. The company has yet to detail the licensing or administration model for the larger product. For now, administrators should prepare for feature retirements beginning August 18 and the desktop app migration in September.