Microsoft’s new Outlook security changes affect third-party apps and Gmail integration

Microsoft is announcing some changes to Outlook for consumers that will further protect accounts. The software maker plans to end support for basic authentication for personal Outlook accounts starting September 16, will remove the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19, and will no longer support Gmail accounts on Outlook.com on August 30 of June. All of these changes are part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative review of its security practices.

Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live.com users will need to access their email accounts through the apps using modern authentication starting September 16th. Support for third-party email apps that don’t use Microsoft’s own login prompt will end later this year. “Microsoft will no longer support Basic Auth, the method in which a person provides only their username and password to sign in to their account,” said David Los, product manager for the Outlook partner group, in a blog post.

The latest versions of Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird will support these changes, so this will largely affect any apps that haven’t been updated to support “Modern Auth,” as Microsoft calls it. “With modern authentication methods, we apply additional backend processes/tokens that users may not realize and that add an extra layer of security,” explains Los.

Microsoft is planning to contact affected Outlook users by the end of June to let them know that they are using an email application that will not be supported soon. It can be as simple as changing an app’s settings to authenticate using OAuth2 instead of a normal password option, or just removing the current account and adding it again.

If you’ve recently noticed password prompts for your Outlook account on an iPhone, it may be because you originally set up your account with basic authentication. Apple’s latest versions of iOS now support modern authentication by default, so if you get password prompts, you’ll need to remove and add the account again. Microsoft has a complete support article with more information here.

Microsoft is also eliminating consumers’ ability to access Gmail accounts on Outlook.com at the end of the month. This feature was originally introduced in 2019 as a way for Microsoft to integrate Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar into its Outlook.com web mail client. However, the new Outlook for Windows app and Outlook for Mac will still support Gmail accounts.

Microsoft also continues to migrate Windows Mail and Calendar users to its new Outlook for Windows app, ahead of the end of support for the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar apps later this year.

Finally, Microsoft is also planning to remove the light version of the Outlook web app on August 19, which was originally designed as a lightweight option for older browsers. “As we accelerate our security efforts to help better protect our customers, we are retiring the light version of the Outlook web app,” says Los. “This means that after 2024 customers will need to run the latest versions of a supported browser to run Outlook.com.”

The minimum browser requirements for Outlook.com are Microsoft Edge or Chrome version 79 or later, Firefox version 78 or later, Safari version 16 or later, and Opera version 76 or later. Microsoft will also only support Windows 10 or later and Windows Server 2016 or later for access to Outlook.com. Linux versions of Firefox and Chrome can still access the email service, along with macOS Sonoma, Ventura, and Monterey users.