The answer is also now available on the FAQ page for Outlook for iOS/Android: Outlook requires an eligible Office 365 commercial subscription for commercial use rights – an Office 365 plan that includes the Office apps… Non-commercial use of Outlook is free (,, etc). I ended up asking a Microsoft representative for a plain-language interpretation of the license terms. Like most people I just assumed back then that a free app was free to use. But I certainly hadn’t read them until this was brought to my attention. Nobody actually reads licenses… well one person did, that’s why they asked me about it. You may install and use one copy of the software on an iOS-based device that you own or control for non-commercial use purposes, unless you have commercial use rights under a valid commercial Office 365 subscription or as may be otherwise licensed. However, the usage of the app is governed by the license terms. You can download Outlook from the Apple app store or from the Google Play store and not pay any money for it.
It’s a simple answer, but perhaps not one that you were expecting. A recent discussion among MVPs and Microsoft reminded me of a question I was asked back when Outlook for iOS and Android were first released – is the Outlook app for iOS and Android devices a free app?
