Microsoft Is Finally Retiring Its Free Scanner App (but There Are Alternatives)
Nothing lasts forever. Devices lose support, standards are replaced, and software becomes obsolete. So it is with Microsoft Lens, whose days are numbered. Keen observers have known about this since August , when Microsoft first announced that Lens would be retired in September and removed from app stores in November. That obviously didn't happen, as the company adjusted the deadline to Dec. 15, which also came and went. Microsoft kicked the retirement can down the road—that is, until now. Microsoft Lens was Microsoft's solution for anyone in the mid-2010s who didn't own a scanner. Rather than buy an expensive piece of hardware to digitize documents, Lens allowed people to use their smartphone camera to turn those hard copies into digital files. It was hardly the only document scanner available on app stores ( Apple's Notes app has had the function built in since iOS 11 ), but because it was made by Microsoft, it was a good solution for getting files into Microsoft app...
