Outlook.com will soon lose integration with Gmail; to understand

Microsoft has announced a number of measures to improve security in its email platform Outlook.com. One of these is the loss of integration between the service and Gmail starting June 30, 2024. However, the latest version of the Outlook app for Windows and Mac will continue to support Gmail accounts as normal.

Microsoft’s most critical decision was to end support for Basic Authentication on its Outlook.com service. The company explained that Basic Authentication, which relies only on providing a username and password, is outdated and insecure. Recently, this method has been increasingly exploited by hackers to steal credentials.

With this support ending, Outlook.com will adopt what the company calls Modern Authentication. This type of authentication makes authentication more robust and reliable by performing additional processes running in the background without the user being aware.

The problem is that many third-party applications that do not support the protocol lose compatibility with Outlook accounts. The company said it will warn users using email clients that the service will stop working.

Measures to resolve the issue include configuration changes (selecting the OAuth2 authentication method), removing and adding the account, or changing the application.

This change will also affect users using Hotmail and Live.com addresses. Currently, Mozilla Thundebird and Apple Mail already support Modern Authentication, in addition to the Outlook app of course.

End of outlook light

Microsoft also announced the shutdown of the lightweight web version of its email service. Outlook.com Light is a lighter version of the platform targeting older browsers. The company said it should focus on improving the security of its users, who will have to use updated browsers.

Below you can see the summary schedule of measures announced by Microsoft:

• 30 June 2024: End of integration between Outlook.com and Gmail;
• 9 August 2024: Turning off the lightweight version of Outlook.com;
• September 16, 2024: End of Basic Authentication support.