Microsoft is merging Copilot and Copilot 365 into one unified app — ZDNet

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Microsoft is merging Copilot and Copilot 365 into one unified app — ZDNet | AIPROPX

Microsoft currently offers two different Copilot apps for Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, and even the web. The regular Copilot app is aimed at consumers and individual users. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app is designed for organizations and professional accounts.

Copilot's dual existence is confusing, especially if you bounce between both apps. Which one do you use, and for what purposes? Now, Microsoft is aiming to solve that problem by melding both into one.

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Scheduled to begin rolling out in mid-September, the new unified Copilot app will be Microsoft's attempt to blend the two separate but similar experiences. With that goal in mind, the new single app will let you sign in with your work, school, or personal account. You'll then be able to connect to your email, calendar, and cloud-based services, whether at home or at work.

Microsoft 365 subscribers will still enjoy higher usage limits than free Copilot users. Subscribers will also be able to access Word, Excel, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 apps and files directly from Copilot. Free and paid users alike will be able to use all the current standard Copilot features to ask questions, submit requests, create images, upload files, and chat by text or voice.

Otherwise, what you can do with the new unified Copilot app depends on how you currently use it.

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If you use the regular Copilot app with a personal account on the desktop or the web, you'll be moved to a new, updated version of the AI. Your chat history and most content will go along for the ride. Microsoft promises that you'll be guided through the process. If you use the Copilot mobile app, though, you'll have to download an updated version of it.

If you use the Microsoft 365 Copilot app with a personal account and not a Microsoft 365 account, you'll notice some visual and navigational changes. But you'll have access to Copilot Chat at no additional cost. In Windows, the Microsoft 365 Copilot app icon on your taskbar may be refreshed. The updated mobile app will either be installed automatically or you might need to ask for the update.

If you use both Microsoft Copilot and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app with a personal account, your chat history and content will be migrated to the new unified app. And if you use Microsoft 365 Copilot for work or school in Windows or on a mobile device, the Copilot icon and name will change, but otherwise, the overall experience will mostly stay the same.

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However you use Copilot today, desktop and mobile users should be guided through the transition. Web users will be redirected to the updated version of Copilot online. Microsoft said it will also communicate with customers about the changes before the official rollout kicks off.

Juggling two separate apps that essentially do similar things is not only clumsy but unnecessary. With the new unified app, users will be able to switch between their personal and work accounts using an account switcher within Copilot. For professionals who work with confidential files and information, Microsoft promises that your work and personal environments will stay separate and that no data will flow between the two.

But with the two Copilot apps becoming one, Microsoft is retiring the following three features:

I think this is a positive step for Copilot.

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Whether you feel that Microsoft's AI is good, bad, or a mixture of both, Copilot has become unwieldy in all its different products and permutations. Why have two different apps when you can combine them into one that serves the same purposes? Hopefully, this transition will play out smoothly without too many hiccups. If so, I look forward to taking the new unified app for a spin.