Microsoft is Killing Several Outlook.com Features to Improve Security

Microsoft announced today that it will improve the security of its consumer Outlook.com service in keeping with its Secure Future Initiative (SFI). But to do so, it’s killing off several features, some of which are quite popular.

“Today, we’re announcing changes to Outlook for personal use to enhance the security of our consumer customers,” Microsoft’s David Los writes in the announcement post. “We want to ensure our customers’ emails, documents, calendar, and contacts are safeguarded from unauthorized access, tampering or loss.”

To accomplish this, the firm is making several changes to Outlook.com and the apps that access this service:

Support for Basic Authentication is deprecated, will end in September. In keeping with similar deprecations elsewhere (Microsoft 365 commercial, Azure, etc.), Microsoft is deprecating support for Basic Authentication–the use of a username and password only–in Outlook.com because it’s insecure. Starting today, those using Basic Authentication will experience multiple authentication prompts. And starting September 16, 2024, all Outlook.com users will need to use Modern Authentication methods on the web and in apps. You can learn more about how to configure your email app for Modern Authentication on Microsoft Support.

End of support for Mail and Calendar in Windows 10 and 11. Though this was previously announced, Microsoft is reminding users that Mail and Calendar in Windows 10/11 are also deprecated, and support for these out-of-date apps will conclude by the end of 2024. Microsoft is replacing Mail and Calendar with the new Outlook app, which is also included in Windows 10/11. “Most people who were using Mail and Calendar have migrated to [the new] Outlook for Windows,” Microsoft notes. “It provides a multitude of features that Mail and Calendar doesn’t include, and [it] also supports Modern Authentication. We are also working on new features in the coming months that will improve Junk Mail filtering and help users better protect themselves from malicious mail. We encourage all remaining users of the Mail and Calendar apps on Windows to move to Outlook for Windows as soon as possible.”

The light version of the Outlook.com web app is deprecated and will no longer be supported after August 19, 2024. Microsoft currently offers a lightweight version of the Outlook.com web app that works in older browsers, but it is retiring this offering in August.

Cortana deprecation is impacting related services. Microsoft deprecated Cortana in 2021 and has since killed it on mobile and Windows. Now, it’s taking the final steps in winding down this solution by deprecating every service that depends on it. “For Outlook mobile users, that means that Play My Emails and Voice Search will be deprecated at the end of June 2024,” Microsoft notes. “For those affected by this, we ask them to use the native mobile OS features that enable voice commands.”

Gmail support in Outlook.com Outlook.com currently allows users to access their Gmail email as well, but that support is being retired on June 30, 2024. “Users on Windows should use Outlook for Windows, which will enable them to use their Gmail accounts seamlessly,” Microsoft advises. “Outlook users on Mac can use Outlook for Mac.”