Microsoft is gradually increasing the number of ads that users without a Microsoft 365 subscription see in Outlook for iOS and Android.

The mail client has two modes of displaying the “Inbox” folder – a single one and divided into two categories “Important/Other”. And if earlier “free” users saw ads only in the “Other” category (and could get rid of them altogether if they wished, by refusing the automatic sorting of correspondence by importance), now Microsoft is gradually adding ads to the single “Inbox” mode as well.

In this case, the only way to get rid of ads in mobile Outlook is to subscribe to Microsoft 365 — without this, you can only switch to the “Important/Other” inbox mode and never open the second tab: Microsoft does not add ads to the “Important” folder (for now) .

Users, to put it mildly, are not happy with such innovations: advertising is displayed on top of the inbox and is very similar in design to ordinary letters, except for the inconspicuous “Ad” mark in the upper right corner. The ad can be removed, but it will soon appear again – and trying to open it will immediately launch the browser. It’s no wonder that the app’s generally very high ratings in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store little by little “spoiled” the reviews of users dissatisfied with the advertisement.