Microsoft Copilot retires Deep Research, Podcasts, and Group Chat for free users on 18 August 2026
Three free Copilot features are being cut on 18 August 2026. Here's what you need to save, what it costs to keep Deep Research, and what's changing.
Microsoft is merging its consumer and business Copilot apps, and the rollout began for Windows Insiders on 14 August 2026. Four days later, on 18 August 2026, three features that were only introduced in April 2025 will be permanently retired from the free tier: Copilot Podcasts, Group Chat, and Deep Research. Mico, the animated voice companion, is also being discontinued.
If you use any of these features without a paid subscription, you have a short window to act.
What’s being retired and when
Copilot Podcasts generated audio discussions from websites and documents you shared with Copilot. After 18 August 2026, those episodes will be gone, and any links you previously shared publicly will stop working. There is no bulk export option. If you want to keep any episodes, you need to download each one individually before the deadline.
Group Chat let multiple users collaborate inside a shared Copilot conversation. After 18 August 2026, group threads will not continue as group conversations. Microsoft will convert each group chat into an individual conversation between you and Copilot, so your own messages should remain visible. However, anything shared or created by other participants, including images and any shared artefacts, will not be accessible. Microsoft recommends copying anything you want to keep into a separate document manually. There is no automated migration path for shared content.
Deep Research produced long, cited reports drawing on web sources. The ability to create new Deep Research reports is moving behind a paywall on 18 August 2026. Your existing reports will still be available in your chat history and can be opened and exported in Microsoft Word format, but you will not be able to run new ones without upgrading.
Mico, the animated blob that appeared during Copilot Voice sessions, is also being retired from the main app. Voice mode in Copilot is not going away. You will still be able to talk with Copilot, but Mico will no longer appear during those conversations. Microsoft says Mico will live on in some education features.
What replaces Deep Research, and what it costs
Deep Research is being replaced by a feature called Researcher, which offers the same type of in-depth, cited reporting but with deeper integration into Microsoft 365 data, pulling from your emails, calendar, and files where relevant.
Researcher is available to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers at $19.99 per month. It is not included in Microsoft 365 Personal ($6.99/month) or Family ($9.99/month) plans. Commercial users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licences will also have access.
If you are on the free tier, or on a Personal or Family plan, Deep Research is simply going away with nothing equivalent in its place at your current price point.
The bigger picture: the Copilot app merger
These retirements are happening in the context of a larger structural change. Microsoft is merging its separate consumer and business Copilot apps into a single product under the working title “Copilot Fusion.” The combined app will let users switch between personal, work, and school accounts through an account switcher, with personal and work data kept separate.
The migration started with a small group of Windows Insiders on 14 August 2026. Mobile and web will follow in mid-August, with Windows and Mac desktop apps updating in mid-September 2026. The commercial web address will move from m365.cloud.microsoft to copilot.cloud.microsoft, with automatic redirects starting in late August.
For most users, the transition will be relatively seamless. Chat history and most content will carry over, and files from the old consumer app will move to OneDrive.
This merger lays the groundwork for what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has described as a Copilot “Super App,” which will bring together chat, AI coding, the Cowork research tool, and AutoPilot agents into a single product.
What this means for you
The honest summary is that free Copilot is getting smaller. Microsoft introduced Podcasts and Deep Research with some fanfare at its 50th anniversary event in April 2025. Both are now being cut from the free tier just over a year later. Whiteboard for personal accounts was retired earlier, and now this.
The features that remain free are the core chat experience and Voice mode. The more powerful capabilities are moving to $19.99 per month, a tier that also requires a Microsoft 365 Premium subscription rather than a standalone Copilot upgrade.
Here is what you should do before 18 August 2026:
- Podcasts: Download any episodes you want to keep, one at a time.
- Group Chat: Manually copy any messages, images, or artefacts that other participants shared into your own documents. Do not assume anything shared by others will survive.
- Deep Research: Your existing reports are safe and can be exported to Word. Decide whether the $19.99/month Microsoft 365 Premium plan is worth it for continued access to Researcher.
For business and commercial users, the changes are largely architectural. Data boundaries, tenant controls, and compliance protections remain in place.
It is also worth noting that the two-tier pricing structure has already drawn regulatory attention in the UK, where Microsoft is facing a consumer probe over Copilot price rises. That is a broader story, but it is useful context for understanding why these decisions are attracting more scrutiny than a routine product update might.