In early 2025, Microsoft built three Copilot-focused apps called “People,” “Files,” and “Calendar” and shipped them as part of “Microsoft 365 companions,” in hopes of making you more productive. Now, Microsoft is killing these apps, even after the company tried to force-install them on PCs with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft strongly believes that the Windows 11 taskbar should be the place to manage Microsoft 365 and Copilot-related features. And based on that belief, Microsoft made a number of changes to the taskbar, including “Ask Copilot,” which was later rolled back. It also launched these three “mini” apps for eligible Microsoft 365 users.

At that point, Microsoft was convinced you needed this mini bloatware to save time and become more productive. Microsoft eventually force-installed the apps and even pinned them to the taskbar. Here’s my taskbar with these mini apps pinned, and I never installed them. I only had Microsoft 365 with an Enterprise license:

Microsoft confirmed its plans to automatically install these apps, but we don’t know how many PCs have them or whether the rollout was ever paused.

“Starting in late October 2025, Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 companion apps People, Files, and Calendar—on Windows 11 devices that already have Microsoft 365 desktop client apps,” Microsoft noted in an admin center message published in October 2025, which was first spotted by Windows Latest.

Admins could opt out, but otherwise, eligible Windows 11 devices could receive the apps automatically through Microsoft 365 updates. That was the original plan, but Microsoft has now changed its mind about these apps nobody wanted.

How People, Files, and Calendar mini apps worked

Initially, only those with a Microsoft 365 business license could access the apps, but we expected them to roll out to everyone at some point, since they would also work well with any personal account.

But if you never tried the apps, I’ve got some details. In my tests, I found that these three apps were WebView2 wrappers that pulled information from Microsoft 365 services.

With People, you could learn about a person in your organization. It’s similar to the contact card you have in Outlook, but the idea was to bring it directly to the taskbar, so you could look someone up during a meeting.

People called a Microsoft 365 endpoint and pulled details like contact information or a person’s role within the organization. It also had some other features, such as the ability to drop someone a message by selecting the Teams chat icon next to their name. And of course, it also had an “Ask Copilot” that never worked properly.

On the other hand, Files allowed you to search for files in OneDrive or SharePoint. Microsoft was also testing a Copilot button that would have allowed you to analyze documents.

Finally, the third app was just a calendar, so there’s not a lot to explain here. Even the Calendar mini app had Copilot integration, but it mostly focused on joining Teams meetings, as shown in the screenshot below:

Microsoft hoped you’d be in a call and just click one of these mini apps to view a contact card, find files in Microsoft 365, or take a look at your calendar. All without switching apps. That was the whole pitch for forcing this bloatware.

So there are some use cases, and these apps can be useful, especially if you frequently switch back and forth between Microsoft 365 apps during a meeting. But at the same time, it was never a good idea to force them on people, and now Microsoft is asking users to clean up the apps it pushed onto their PCs.

Microsoft says it’s killing companion apps it once forced, and you’ll need to remove them yourself

In an updated support document spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft confirmed that MS 365 companion apps will retire by December 16, 2026, but it doesn’t explain why it’s taking down these apps that it once hyped for productivity.

Microsoft only argues that “companion apps were an additional way” and shared the following statement:

“The companion apps were an additional way to find calendar information, people, and files. Removing them doesn’t delete or affect any existing capabilities or Microsoft 365 data. You can continue finding the same information by using existing Microsoft 365 and Windows experiences,” the company noted.

Microsoft confirmed that these apps will stop working by the retirement deadline, but they won’t automatically uninstall themselves. You’ll need to do it yourself.

“If your organization doesn’t manage your device, you must remove them yourself,” the company noted.

In other words, Microsoft pushed these apps onto PCs, and now it’s leaving users and admins to clean up the mess.

Microsoft has stopped automatic installations through Microsoft 365 updates, but organizations also need to stop deploying the apps themselves. If an Intune assignment still requires the apps, they can be reinstalled after removal.

Some of you may not even be aware that these apps were added to your Windows installation, so you should check whether they’re still installed. If you never opened them, their retirement probably won’t change how you use your PC.

How to remove Microsoft 365 companion apps from Windows 11

You just need to open Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, search for “Microsoft 365 companions,” click the three-dot menu, and select Uninstall.

You can also search for People, Files, or Calendar in Windows Search, right-click the companion app, and select Uninstall. Removing any one of these companion apps will remove the other two.

You may need to restart Windows to fully remove the apps. Or you can sign out and sign back in to see if it makes a difference.

If you don’t want to use Windows Settings, you can use PowerShell to remove Microsoft 365 companion apps. For your current user account, use:

powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.M365Companions | Remove-AppxPackage"

If you have multiple users and want to remove the apps for everyone, run this command as administrator:

powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.M365Companions | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers"

To clear any leftover local app data for your account, close the apps and run this optional command in Command Prompt:

rmdir /s /q "%LOCALAPPDATA%PackagesMicrosoft.M365Companions_8wekyb3d8bbweLocalState"

I never liked the idea of these mini apps nobody wanted, and now Microsoft is pulling back the mess it created.

The post Microsoft force-installed three apps on Windows 11, and now you have to delete them yourself appeared first on Windows Latest