Microsoft is making a major change to its 365 Copilot app for iOS. Starting September 15, 2025, the app will no longer allow editing of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files on iPhone. The same restriction will roll out to iPad in the following weeks.
Until now, the 365 Copilot app offered basic editing tools for quick changes such as formatting, formula entry, and document conversions. While it was not as powerful as the desktop suite, many users found it convenient for lightweight editing on the go. With this update, the app will shift to previews and AI-driven features, leaving editing entirely to the standalone Office apps.
Microsoft’s focus on AI and previews
The company says the change is meant to streamline workflows by making Copilot a hub for previews, summaries, and natural language interactions. Instead of opening a file and editing it directly in Copilot, users will see prompts to download Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
This move underscores Microsoft’s strategy of keeping AI tools separate from traditional productivity software. Copilot will handle summarization, draft creation, and “Create” workflows, while editing remains in the larger Office apps. For users, however, this separation introduces friction and increases storage requirements, with each app taking hundreds of megabytes of space.
A confusing history of rebrands
The removal of editing from Copilot is especially frustrating because the app’s evolution has already been confusing. Microsoft originally offered the Office app on iOS, which combined Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single experience with built-in editing. That app was later rebranded as Microsoft 365, before Copilot took over as the new face of productivity.
Now, Copilot itself is being stripped of editing, reducing it to little more than a viewer with AI features. For users, the constant rebranding and shifting feature sets are not consumer friendly. Many may see little reason to keep Copilot installed when the standalone apps are required for editing anyway.
Impact on iPhone and iPad users
For iOS users, the impact is clear. Copilot will remain useful for quickly checking documents or using AI-powered features, but even small edits will require switching apps. Students, professionals, and small businesses that depended on Copilot for quick edits will now need to juggle multiple large downloads instead of relying on a single lightweight solution.
By stripping away functionality that once made the app convenient, Microsoft risks alienating its user base. For many, the logical step might be to delete Copilot altogether and rely solely on the standalone apps.
