Is it an experiment, rolling out to everyone, or a bug? Reports are coming in that users are starting to see ads in the Microsoft 365 application for Android when they open PDF documents in the app.
The ad shows up at the top of the screen underneath the title of the document. It features a close button, but that closes it just for the current PDF document and has no effect on future documents that users view in the app.
User Longhorn describes the experience on an independent Mastadon server:
The PDF reader in the Office app on Android has built-in ads.
Even if you have an @Microsoft 365 subscription, ads do sometimes show up.
That’s utterly insane. That particular ad I got was powered by Taboola under the hood.
Another user chimed in and said that ads are also showing up for other documents opened in the application.
I tried to replicate this by opening several PDF documents and Office documents in the app, but they did not show up. It is possible that they do get blocked by the privacy-focused DNS service that I use, as it blocks most ads on Android devices.
Microsoft has been experimenting with advertisement in its products before and still is. Various sections and apps by Microsoft on Windows show ads. While some might argue that a recommendation for another Microsoft product is not an ad, I’d beg to differ.
Third-party apps are also a thing. The Copilot feature that is integrated into Windows may show third-party ads.
Ads in the Microsoft 365 app are not out of the question therefore. It would be a serious blow to subscribers, if Microsoft intents to show ads to them as well.
If Microsoft is rolling this out, we are likely going to see more and more comments about it on various places on the Internet.
What is your take on ads in apps? Do you mind, if they are free? What about paid apps? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
If you need to edit/view PDF files, there are cheaper and better options on Android.
What is your suggestion?
I have “N Docs – PDF, Word, Excel, PPT” and for viewing all kind of documents including Adobe, Microsoft and OpenOffice documents it is very good. It has a little bit of nagware, and I have not used any advanced paid features. It has only 100K downloads, which is very little comparing to big boys.
Off Topic: Does anyone know why “Ghost Commander” is no longer available from the play store?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghostsq.commander&hl=en-US
I was setting up a new android for someone and had to install it from sourceforge using chrome.
Add the SMB plugin and it’s the best file manager I’ve ever used on android to work with windows shares.
PS What is M.$365? I’ve heard the name many times but forgot what it actually is LOL
MS 365 is the new name for Office 365.
Just use F-Droid store or this page.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.ghostsq.commander/