{"id":8298,"date":"2026-06-20T19:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T19:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=8298"},"modified":"2026-06-20T19:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T19:35:52","slug":"millions-of-apple-mac-users-losing-access-to-microsoft-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=8298","title":{"rendered":"Millions of Apple Mac users losing access to Microsoft Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>It was a sad day when my classic Apple iPod stopped working and I had to move my music to my iPhone, which wasn&#8217;t quite up to the task. <\/p>\n<p>Apple eventually stops providing hardware service, software updates, and security patches for older devices, which can limit functionality over time. With iPods, after seven years, they could no longer be connected to newer Macs, and mine became a fixed collection of music that could not be updated. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago,&#8221; according to Apple&#8217;s Product page.<\/p>\n<p>In July, some Apple Mac users will no longer be able to access Microsoft Office, while others will have to upgrade their operating system in order to continue using them.<\/p>\n<h2>Apple&#8217;s Macs are not infinitely updateable<\/h2>\n<p>While millions of Mac, iPhone, and iPad users will be impacted for most of them, the fix will be relatively easy.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft explained what&#8217;s happening on its website help pages.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Starting <strong>July 13, 2026<\/strong>, some users may notice that Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or OneNote) can open and print files, but cannot edit, save, or create new files \u2013 called &#8216;reduced functionality mode.&#8217; This happens when support for Microsoft Office apps is no longer continued for older operating systems or devices,&#8221; the tech giant shared.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Technology:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Microsoft CEO sends a blunt warning on AI and the tech ecosystem<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Amazon CEO just made things uncomfortable for Anthropic<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft has bad news for a key AI partner<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For many users, the fix will be easy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This issue affects both Microsoft 365 subscribers on macOS, iPhone, and iPad, and those with non-subscription software, including Office 2021 or Office 2019 on macOS. For most users, updating your OS, and updating your apps will resolve it,&#8221; Microsoft shared. <\/p>\n<p>Some users of older Macs, iPhones, and iPads won&#8217;t be able to make the required updates.<\/p>\n<h2>These Apple users won&#8217;t be able to update<\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft shared its operating requirements in order to use Office with full functionality on an Apple device. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimum OS: <strong>macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Minimum app version: <strong>16.83<\/strong> or later.<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft supports only the <strong>three most recent major versions of macOS<\/strong>. As Apple releases new macOS versions, the oldest supported version is dropped. For current supported macOS versions and Office behavior on older macOS, see <strong>\u201cUpgrade macOS to continue receiving Microsoft 365 and Office for Mac updates.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>On iOS \/ iPadOS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimum OS: <strong>iOS \/ iPadOS 17.0 or later<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Minimum app version: <strong>2.93<\/strong> or later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The culprit is an expiring digital certificate that validates Office licences. It&#8217;s similar to a security key that tells your Mac the software is legitimate \u2013 and once it expires, the apps will no longer allow you to use them to their full ability,&#8221; GB News reported. <\/p>\n<p>Older Macs, iPhones, and iPads will not be able to update their operating systems to download the new license.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Macs typically last 5-8 years before Apple designates them as \u2018vintage\u2019 or \u2018obsolete\u2019, limiting repair options and security updates,&#8221; according to MacWorld. <\/p>\n<p>Apple supports roughly the last three macOS versions, Microsoft mirrors that for Office, and a Mac that&#8217;s aged out of Apple&#8217;s window is also aged out of the Office build carrying the renewed certificate.<\/p>\n<p>End of Life provides tracking as to when your device will no longer be eligible for upgrades, which is also when Apple stops releasing security patches. This site is not affiliated with Apple.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/.image\/NDA6MDAwMDAwMDAzMDg1NzIx\/apple-mac.jpg?profile=rss\" height=\"675\" width=\"1199\"><figcaption>\n<p>Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Security usually forces users to abandon old Macs<\/h2>\n<p>My 2012 MacBook still works, but it no longer has a working web browser, as it simply can&#8217;t download and install any current version that would work. Even if it could, using it would be a danger.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You may find that your Mac cannot update to the latest version of macOS (Apple\u2019s Mac operating system software), but it\u2019s even more concerning if Apple is no longer issuing security updates to the version of macOS you can run \u2013 because that make you open to malware and security vulnerabilities,&#8221; according to MacWorld.<\/p>\n<p>The good news for Apple users is that anyone using a Mac, iPhone, or iPad that&#8217;s roughly less than five years old, can restore their access to Office easily enough.<\/p>\n<p>While Microsoft says only &#8220;some users&#8221; will be affected, anyone running an older version of Office or using a device that doesn&#8217;t automatically update may need to take action before July 13. That&#8217;s around 143 million people just for iPhones in the U.S. in 2024, according to BankMyCell. <\/p>\n<p>The renewed certificate ships inside a new app build, so even someone already on a current macOS has to update the app itself. <\/p>\n<p>Microsoft&#8217;s own language is just &#8220;some users,&#8221; and for the fixable majority it says updating the OS and the apps resolves it. For many users, the fix may be as simple as updating Office to the latest version. Others may also need to update their operating system.<\/p>\n<p>For those using older devices, however, they won&#8217;t lose their Office documents, but they won&#8217;t be able to update them until they get a new devices.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>Related: Microsoft CEO sends a blunt warning on AI and the tech ecosystem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>#Millions #Apple #Mac #users #losing #access #Microsoft #Office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a sad day when my classic Apple iPod stopped working and I had to move my music to my iPhone, which wasn&#8217;t quite up to the task. Apple&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[6287,1323,5717,1720,431,3355,1521,1787],"class_list":["post-8298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular","tag-access","tag-apple","tag-losing","tag-mac","tag-microsoft","tag-millions","tag-office","tag-users"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}