New Microsoft 365 Copilot App to Replace Microsoft 365 App in January

Microsoft alerted commercial customers today that it will be updating the Microsoft 365 app name and icon in mid-January 2025. This change is tied to recent news in which Microsoft is changing how commercial customers interact with Copilot in Windows 11: Instead of using the standalone Copilot app, all interactions will now go through the Microsoft 365 app.

Which is being rebranded to Microsoft 365 Copilot and getting a new icon, as Microsoft first revealed at Ignite 2025 in November.

“We are updating the Microsoft 365 app name and icon to Microsoft 365 Copilot in mid-January 2025,” a new message in the Microsoft 365 Message Center explains. “In addition, we are evolving the app’s UI to support future AI-first experiences.”

The Copilot-esque new Microsoft 365 (Copilot) app icon is curious. But the app itself is getting a lot of changes too. Microsoft is removing the header and organization logo and moving the user profile, settings, and feedback links to the bottom left toolbar. The search experience isn’t changing, but the search box is moving to the homepage. AI experiences like Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Copilot Pages are being added to the list of apps on the left toolbar. And the Back button, plus the My Day and Help me create features will be removed.

In Microsoft’s words, this new app will now be “the destination for Copilot” for commercial customers. The app rollout will be phased, which seems more logical than using a controlled (random) feature release (CFR). And there’s nothing for IT admins to configure or control. It’s just going to happen.

In a separate message, Microsoft also communicated that this change is “ad-free” and “grounded in the web and secure with enterprise data protection.” It’s being made to “simplify the user experience,” and it will include a second branding change: Microsoft Copilot for Entra account users will be renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

“Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (formerly Microsoft Copilot) will continue to offer web-grounded chat with the latest large language models including GPT-4o, features like Pages and file upload, and enterprise data protection at no additional cost for Entra account users,” the message explains. “Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat users will be able to discover, create, and use agents, including custom agents that can access shared work data in your tenant. The name changes for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, and the new Microsoft 365 Copilot app icon, will roll out across App stores and the web in mid-January.”

Finally, Microsoft is also changing the URLs commercial users will use to access Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365, generally, on the web. Microsoft 365 Copilot will be found at m365copilot.com, and those who navigate to the old office.com and microsoft365.com URLs will automatically be redirected to m365.cloud.microsoft.com. Neither of these new URLs appears to be live yet.