Microsoft Merges Copilot Apps: Consumer Group Chat, Podcasts, Deep Research End August 18

Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot app and the business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single app. The company’s support documentation says several consumer features are being retired as part of the change, and it names August 18, 2026 for Group Chat, Podcasts, and Deep Research¹. TechCrunch reported the move on August 13 as a consolidation of the two Copilot apps alongside a cleanup of features that did not take off³.

Because a deadline is attached, anyone who wants to keep podcasts or Group Chat content created in Copilot needs to save it locally before then. The support documentation is explicit that this content will not carry forward into the merged app¹.

What Ends, and When

Three items carry an explicit date. For Group Chat, threads, messages, and content including images created in Group Chats will not be carried forward after August 18, 2026¹. Podcasts is being retired from Copilot and will no longer be available after that date¹. Deep Research is being retired “in the Copilot app for consumers” starting August 18, 2026¹. That the Deep Research retirement is scoped to consumers is stated in the source text; it does not mean equivalent functionality disappears from Microsoft 365 Copilot. TechCrunch reports that business users will get Researcher as a replacement for Deep Research³, but that point does not appear in the support documents reviewed here.

Other retirements carry no date. According to a separate support document, Mico is being removed from Copilot Voice in a change that “starts in August and will roll out in waves,” and Mico-specific settings such as saved colors and looks will not carry over². Mico does continue in Learn Live, where the character works as a tutor². Copilot Labs is also being retired, in a change described as occurring as part of your Copilot update with timing varying by account². Content generated within Labs experiments, such as 3D assets or audio clips, will not carry forward². Early-access and preview experiences are described as expected to be available through programs such as Frontier in Copilot and experimentation environments like MAI Playground — wording that remains an expectation rather than a commitment².

On timing, the FAQ document says the Group Chat change will roll out gradually as part of Copilot updates, with timing varying by account². August 18 is best read as the deadline Microsoft has set, with the actual change reaching individual accounts earlier or later. Either way, if you have content worth preserving, there is no reason to wait for the date.

How Accounts Work After the Merge

On the merge itself, the support documentation says chats and content you have created will be merged into a single updated Copilot app, while chats, content, and data remain separate between account types within the app¹. You will be able to sign in to the updated app with a personal account, a work or school account, or both¹; work and personal accounts remain separate¹; and the in-app account switcher continues to work¹.

For anyone who has been using Microsoft 365 Copilot at work and consumer Copilot personally, the app becomes one while the data boundary holds. When the consolidation completes is not stated in the documentation.

Additions and Retirements Are Running in Parallel

Large vendors deciding to shut down AI features they shipped has been a recurring theme in recent weeks. GitHub stopped accepting new GitHub Spark users on August 4 and set August 31 as the export deadline for apps already built. In GitHub Copilot, the August 11 announcement of MAI-Code-1.1-Flash also carried notice that the previous MAI-Code-1-Flash retires on September 10. The same GitHub Copilot also added Gemini 3.7 Flash on August 13. New capabilities keep arriving, and dated retirements are arriving at the same rate.

From the user’s side, AI features are becoming something you adopt with an eye on how long they will be available, not just whether they work. The more a feature’s output lives only inside the app, the more the migration cost lands on you when it ends. For anyone who built a workflow around something like Podcasts, where output is tied to the platform, August 18 is an occasion to audit that kind of dependency.

TechCrunch reports that an internal memo from Microsoft EVP Jacob Andreou described the app as needing to earn the right to exist in customers’ lives³.