Microsoft is making some changes to Outlook for regular people to make sure their accounts are safe. They will stop supporting Basic Authentication for Outlook personal accounts from September 16th. They will also get rid of the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19th, and they won’t support Gmail accounts in Outlook.com from June 30th. These changes are part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative to improve security.Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live.com users will have to use Modern Authentication to access their email accounts from September 16th. Third-party email apps that don’t use Microsoft’s own login prompt will not be supported after this year. David Los, a partner group product manager for Outlook, explained that Microsoft will no longer support Basic Auth, where you only need a username and password to sign in.You may need to delete and add your Outlook account in some email apps. The latest versions of Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird will work with these changes. Microsoft will contact affected Outlook users by the end of June to let them know if they’re using an email app that won’t be supported soon. If you’ve been asked for your password for your Outlook account on an iPhone, you might need to remove and add the account again.Microsoft is also getting rid of the option for consumers to use Gmail accounts in Outlook.com. This was added in 2019 to let Microsoft integrate Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar into Outlook.com. The new Outlook for Windows app and Outlook for Mac will still work with Gmail accounts. Microsoft is moving Windows Mail and Calendar users to the new Outlook for Windows app before they stop supporting the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar apps soon.Microsoft will also remove the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19th. This version was made for older browsers, but Microsoft is retiring it to focus on security. After 2024, customers will need to use the latest versions of supported browsers like Microsoft Edge or Chrome. Microsoft will only support Windows 10 or later and Windows Server 2016 or later for Outlook.com. Linux versions of Firefox and Chrome can still access the mail service, along with macOS Sonoma, Ventura, and Monterey users.
