Microsoft Outlook now shows more ads on iOS and Android

• Microsoft is adding more ads to the Android and iOS Outlook apps.
• Free users can avoid seeing adverts by using the Focused inbox.
• If you can’t stand the ads, you must subscribe to Microsoft 365 or de-install Outlook.com/Outlook.

There are ads everywhere on the internet, even when you are just reading your email. Now, Microsoft is adding more ads to the Android and iOS Outlook apps.

The Verge reports that Microsoft has increased the amount of advertising in Outlook inboxes, especially for free users.

Free users can avoid viewing adverts by using the Focused inbox, a single-inbox feature with two tabs: “Focused” for important mail (like work email) and “Other” for everything else, including ads.

“For free users of Outlook, ads are shown in their inbox, and they can choose to enable the ‘Focused inbox’ feature if they would like to see ads only in the “other” inbox,” according to a Microsoft spokeswoman.

Users will view adverts whether or not they use Focused Inbox. The adverts will appear at the top of the inbox and seem like real emails like Microsoft and Google do with Outlook and Gmail browser versions. Even if advertisements only appear in “Other,” they’re hard to avoid.

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Hey @MicrosoftHelps , the decision to put ads that look like mail in the @Outlook mobile app is utter garbage.

Tricking people into clicking ads is such shit UX design. I'm checking email, not trying to download drivers in 2005.

— Andrew Hendry (@aahendry) August 16, 2022

The iOS @Outlook app shows me ads that look like emails now, get the fuck outta here @Microsoft pic.twitter.com/o6dSIY85Yt

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— Nick Smith (@yonicksmith) August 16, 2022

Outlook users complained on social media about advertising in their inboxes.

Some people suggested that people use other email services instead of Outlook, while others were upset that Microsoft put ads in Outlook’s user interface.

Google added adverts to Gmail in 2012, but only on the Promotions tab, where people check for bargains. Outlook’s “Other” tab offers advertising for non-promotional emails.

If you can’t stand the advertising, you must subscribe to Microsoft 365, which costs $7 a month or $70 a year (for the personal subscription) or delete Outlook.

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