Outlook – BIG

Microsoft is ramping up ads in Outlook for iOS and Android.

The company confirmed to The Verge that it would start displaying ads in the single inbox view. Previously, the company would display ads in the ‘Other’ inbox for users with the ‘Focused inbox’ feature enabled. Focused inbox attempts to sort emails based on importance, allowing users to filter out the noise by sticking in the Focused inbox tab.

“For free users of Outlook, ads are shown in their inbox and they can choose to enable the ‘Focused inbox’ feature if they would like to see ads only in the ‘Other’ inbox,” says Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston in a statement given to The Verge.

The iOS @Outlook app shows me ads that look like emails now, get the fuck outta here @Microsoft pic.twitter.com/o6dSIY85Yt

— Nick Smith (@yonicksmith) August 16, 2022

Frustratingly, Microsoft designed the ads in Outlook to look like emails, and they appear at the top of users’ inboxes. While they do have a little ‘ad’ icon in the right corner, it’s easy enough to miss.

Naturally, Microsoft isn’t the only company that puts email-like ads into its free email tool. Google does so with Gmail, although ads only appear in the ‘Promotions’ tab with the default inbox setup.

Unsurprisingly, frustrated users have started leaving one-star reviews for Outlook on the Apple App Store, while others have hopped on social media to express their dissatisfaction with the change.

How ads appear in Gmail

It’s a bit of a bummer, given that Microsoft’s Outlook mobile app is actually pretty good and a Focused inbox is a feature I wish more email apps would offer (I’ve managed to somewhat Frankenstein my Gmail into a Focused inbox-like setup, but it feels like it’s always one email away from collapsing in on itself).

For Outlook users desperate to avoid ads, the only options now will be either downloading another email app, or forking out for a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft is working on an ‘Outlook Lite’ app for Android. The app would be smaller and faster than the current Outlook for Android app, but will lack some features as a consequence.

The company mentions Outlook Lite on its Microsoft 365 roadmap, describing it as an “app that brings the main benefits of Outlook in a smaller app size with fast performance for low-end devices on any network.” Moreover, the roadmap mentions a general availability date of July 2022, suggesting Outlook Lite could arrive this month.

According to ZDNet, (via The Verge), Microsoft already offers a version of Outlook Lite in some regions, so this appears to be a broader release of that app. The Verge also cites Microsoft documentation that Outlook Lite will only support Outlook, Hotmail, Live, and MSN accounts, and won’t support work or school accounts.

The Verge notes that Outlook is one of the more popular email options on Android, with over 500 million downloads on the Play Store. It makes a lot of sense that Microsoft would seek to expand that popularity by offering a lightweight version of the app that will work well on older phones or less powerful devices.

Of course, as with any ‘Lite’ app, I find myself wondering why companies don’t just shrink the main app.

Anyway, it’s worth noting Microsoft is also hard at work improving the Outlook desktop app. The company is testing a new ‘One Outlook’ app that would unify the Outlook experience across web, Windows and Mac.

Source: Microsoft Via: ZDNet, The Verge