What Are You Missing from the Microsoft 365 Mobile App?  

Introduction 

Are you always on the go? Travel a lot for work? 

Maybe you find yourself reviewing important documents or presentations from your phone, jumping from app to app to do so? Or even trying to squint to see an email preview to avoid having to juggle apps? 

If you see yourself in this description, it might be time to consider the Microsoft 365 mobile app. It’s something of a one-and-done solution for anyone who needs to review or edit Microsoft documents while on the move-and a few other things, too.  

What is the Microsoft 365 mobile app? 

Available for both iOS and Android, the Microsoft 365 mobile app is a bit like having the best of the Microsoft Office suite right in your pocket.  

It brings (most of) the power and functionality of Microsoft 365 to your smartphone or tablet, primarily the legendary trio of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Need to edit a document on the train? Check. Do some light calculations while grabbing a coffee? Absolutely. Collaborate on a presentation from the airport? Easy-peasy.  

But it doesn’t just give you the ability to create and edit Office files from one place-it’s bundled with a few other nifty features, too.  

The core features of the Microsoft 365 app 

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the app, you’ll get instant access to the following features: 

• Create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. You’ll be presented with your OneDrive files, which you can open and edit wherever you are. When opening a file, for example a Word document, you’ll be directed to a ‘lite’ version of the mobile Word app. That said, these are all very complete apps, and there’s not much we’ve found they can’t do. You can even collaborate with others live in the same document if they have access-just as you would on the dedicated native apps.  
• Capture images, documents, and sounds. The ‘Capture’ section of the mobile app gives you access to a few different tools, including the ability to scan and save any document as a PDF-just like you can with dedicated apps from Adobe and others. In this section you’ll also find the option to Record and annotate videos, as well as dictate and transcribe audio to text in real time. A more recent addition here is the “Explain with Copilot” option which allows you take a photo and have the Copilot AI answer questions about it. Neat.  
• Copilot in your pocket. The Microsoft AI tool Copilot is now built into the Microsoft 365 app, and it’s the very same tool you’ll find in the browser or your Windows 11 PC. You can ask it questions on pretty much anything and get natural language responses, just like ChatGPT.  

Why not just use the dedicated Microsoft mobile apps? 

Like any product designed to do more than one thing, the Microsoft 365 app isn’t going to offer the same level of functionality as the dedicated Office apps-but it’s not designed to.  

The real goal of the Microsoft 365 mobile app is to give you quick access to your documents, anywhere, anytime, and be able to make basic changes if needed. No, you won’t be able to record macros, or browse advanced slide templates, or install custom fonts, but for the vast majority of mobile use cases, the app is a great solution. In fact, we were hard-pressed to find anything it couldn’t do outside of those advanced features which-let’s face it-many  of us will never use.  

It doesn’t only give access to the core Office apps, but also saves space on your device and provides those additional document scanning, Copilot, and PDF functions mentioned above.   

Is the Microsoft 365 mobile app free? 

The Microsoft 365 mobile app is free to download, but there’s a catch for some users. 

To unlock its full potential, you’ll need a Microsoft 365 subscription. But even without an active plan-either Personal or Business-you can still access some of the app’s basic features. You’ll be able to view documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and even do a bit of light editing.  

But for the more advanced (and useful) stuff, like real-time collaboration, advanced editing tools, and integration across all Microsoft 365 apps and services, you’ll need a subscription. 

Where to download the Microsoft 365 mobile app 

Ready to get started with the Microsoft 365 mobile app? Downloading it is simple. It’s available in both Apple and Android app stores and you’ll find it listed as “Microsoft 365 (Office)”.  

Or, to save you some time, you can just click here for Apple or click here for Android. Once it’s downloaded, just log in with your organisation’s Microsoft 365 account and you’re off to the races.  

If you need any help getting set up with the Microsoft 365 mobile app, your Get Support account manager is here to help. Have another question? Call our team anytime on 01865 594 000.