Microsoft will discontinue the three 365 Companion apps for Windows starting December 16. You will have to clean up the apps yourself.
In 2025, Microsoft introduced three Copilot-focused apps: Calendar, People, and Files. These apps appeared unsolicited in users’ taskbars. Microsoft has now announced in a support document that the apps will no longer function as of December 16, as noted by Windows Latest. However, Microsoft is leaving the cleanup of these apps to you.
Unsolicited
“Starting in late October 2025, Microsoft will automatically install the Microsoft 365 Companion apps People, Files, and Calendar on Windows 11 devices that already have Microsoft 365 desktop client apps,” Microsoft wrote at the time, first noted by Windows Latest. The three 365 Companion apps thus appeared unsolicited in the taskbar of the relevant devices. However, it is not clear how far that rollout eventually reached. Not everyone was waiting for them, not only because Microsoft placed the Companion apps in the taskbar unsolicited, but also because the functions were not very innovative.
With Calendar, you can quickly view appointments and join meetings, and People offered an overview of all members in an organization to quickly send them a message. The Files app allowed you to quickly search your files within the 365 environment. Such functionalities are already possible within Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive.
December 16
Microsoft has now announced that the three taskbar apps will be discontinued starting December 16, 2026. It is not clear why Microsoft is withdrawing its apps, though few will truly mourn their departure. However, you still need to perform one action yourself: deleting them. Microsoft will not do this automatically.
You can clean up the apps by going to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps and searching for Microsoft 365 companions. There you can uninstall the apps. This action will also remove the associated locally stored data.