Microsoft 365 Companion Apps are Being Retired — LazyAdmin

A 12 months in the past I wrote about Microsoft auto-installing the Microsoft 365 companion apps on each Home windows 11 gadget that already had the M365 apps. I used to be already sceptical again then about what these apps really added over simply opening Outlook or Groups.

Seems that scepticism didn’t have to final very lengthy, as a result of Microsoft is now retiring them. However this time, we have to uninstall it ourselfs.

On this article, we’ll take a look at what’s retiring, the timeline, and extra importantly, the right way to verify which of your machines nonetheless have the companion apps put in so you’ll be able to clear them up with the scripts beneath.

What’s Retiring, and When

Nearly precisely a 12 months in the past, Microsoft introduced it was going to auto-install the Microsoft 365 companion apps on all Home windows 11 gadgets that have already got Microsoft 365 Apps put in.

The companion apps exists out of three apps:

Microsoft goes to retire all three by December 16, 2026. After that date the apps will fully cease working.

Now vital to grasp, retiring and eradicating are two various things. Microsoft is simply pulling the plug on the backend that makes the apps work. It isn’t uninstalling them out of your gadgets. That half we have to do ourself.

It’s doable that the companion apps the place rolled-out in your group in any respect, as a result of it was doable to opt-out of the automated set up within the Microsoft 365 Apps Admin Heart.

In the event you turned off Allow automated set up of Microsoft 365 companion apps within the Microsoft 365 Apps admin heart earlier than the rollout, and no person deployed them one other method, you might need nothing to scrub up.

What Occurs If You Do Nothing

Microsoft has already stopped putting in the companion apps mechanically by way of Microsoft 365 Apps updates. So no new gadgets will choose them up on their very own from this level.

However that’s the one half Microsoft is doing for you. Present installations keep precisely the place they’re. In the event you don’t take away them, your customers hold three apps within the taskbar that can cease engaged on December 16, 2026, and received’t obtain safety fixes earlier than then both.

Microsoft’s personal steerage is blunt about this: tenant admins are anticipated to take away the apps from each gadget the place they’re put in.

Examine if the Companion Apps are Put in

The companion apps aren’t put in as a traditional Win32 app, they’re an AppX bundle known as Microsoft.M365Companions. That implies that we are able to use the Get-AppxPackage cmdlet in PowerShell to verify if the apps are put in:

$packageName = "Microsoft.M365Companions"$bundle = Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Title $packageName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinueif (-not $bundle) {    Write-Host "Microsoft 365 companion apps not discovered on this machine." -ForegroundColor Inexperienced    exit 0}$installedFor = foreach ($userProfile in (Get-ChildItem "$env:SystemDriveCustomers" -Listing -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {    $localStatePath = Be a part of-Path $userProfile.FullName "AppDataLocalPackages${packageName}_8wekyb3d8bbwe"    if (Check-Path $localStatePath) {        $userProfile.Title    }}Write-Host "Microsoft 365 companion apps discovered." -ForegroundColor YellowWrite-Host "  Bundle model : $($bundle.Model)"Write-Host "  Bundle household  : $($bundle.PackageFamilyName)"if ($installedFor) {    Write-Host "  Current in person profiles: $($installedFor -join ', ')" -ForegroundColor Yellow} else {    Write-Host "  Bundle is registered, however no per-user knowledge folder discovered but." -ForegroundColor Yellow}exit 1

Run this elevated. -AllUsers wants an admin session to really see each profile on the machine, with out it you solely get a end result for whoever is at present logged in.

The exit codes comply with the standard Intune Proactive Remediation conference: 0 means nothing discovered, 1 means the apps are there and want remediation. So you’ll be able to drop this straight into the detection aspect of a remediation pair, or simply run it advert hoc.

Take away the Companion Apps

Greatest is to cease deployment first in fact, after which take away present installs. In testing, elimination really went superb even with automated set up nonetheless enabled, so this isn’t a tough requirement.

1. Open the Microsoft 365 Apps admin heart
2. Go to System Configuration and choose the Trendy App settings tab
3. Choose Microsoft 365 companion apps
4. Uncheck Allow automated set up of Microsoft 365 companion apps

This solely stops new gadgets from getting the apps going ahead. Microsoft doesn’t clear this setting for you, so be sure that to confirm it’s disabled first.

Cease Intune From Reinstalling Them

If the companion apps had been pushed out by way of Intune, verify the assignments on that app entry earlier than you take away something at scale.

1. Within the Intune admin heart, go to Apps > Home windows
2. Choose the Microsoft 365 companion apps Win32 app entry, then Handle > Properties
3. Scroll to Assignments and choose Edit
4. Delete the Required project, that is what re-triggers set up on a schedule
5. Delete the Accessible for enrolled gadgets project too, or customers can nonetheless seize it themselves from Firm Portal

Uninstall Via Intune

With deployment stopped, you’ll be able to uninstall centrally as a substitute of working the script machine by machine:

1. Similar app entry, identical Assignments > Edit display
2. Add an Uninstall project, concentrating on all customers or gadgets
3. Monitor progress beneath Monitor > System set up standing or Consumer set up standing

Apps can keep seen till a person closes them or indicators out, and a few machines want a restart earlier than Intune studies them as totally gone. That’s anticipated, not a failed uninstall.

Uninstall by way of Powershell

As soon as a machine has them, elimination is a Take away-AppxPackage name plus some cleanup:

$packageName = "Microsoft.M365Companions"$bundle = Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Title $packageName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinueif (-not $bundle) {    Write-Host "Microsoft 365 companion apps will not be put in on this machine. Nothing to do." -ForegroundColor Inexperienced    exit 0}Write-Host "Eradicating $($bundle.PackageFullName)..." -ForegroundColor Yellowstrive {    Take away-AppxPackage -Bundle $bundle.PackageFullName -AllUsers -ErrorAction Cease    Write-Host "Bundle eliminated." -ForegroundColor Inexperienced}catch {    Write-Host "Didn't take away the bundle: $_" -ForegroundColor Purple    exit 1}$cleanedProfiles = foreach ($userProfile in (Get-ChildItem "$env:SystemDriveCustomers" -Listing -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {    $localStatePath = Be a part of-Path $userProfile.FullName "AppDataLocalPackages${packageName}_8wekyb3d8bbwe"    if (Check-Path $localStatePath) {        Take away-Merchandise -Path $localStatePath -Recurse -Pressure -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue        $userProfile.Title    }}if ($cleanedProfiles) {    Write-Host "Cleaned up leftover knowledge for: $($cleanedProfiles -join ', ')" -ForegroundColor Yellow}Write-Host "Completed. Confirm with: Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Title '$packageName'" -ForegroundColor Inexperiencedexit 0

The uninstall goes fairly fast and most often it cleans up the information folder. However I added a cleanup profiles part simply as a double verify to cleanup any leftover information.

Timeline

Wrapping Up

Actually, I’m not shocked these are getting retired. Once I first checked out them a 12 months in the past, half of them didn’t even work reliably, and all the pieces they provided was already one click on away in Outlook or Groups.

I hope you favored this text, when you’ve got any questions, simply drop a remark beneath.