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Who can really get Office Mobile for iPhone

Not all Office 365 subscribers can get Office Mobile for iPhone and there’s a hidden limit.

From the public statements you’d think that all Office 365 subscribers can use Office Mobile for iPhone but that’s not so.

Only Office 365 subscriptions that include Office software rental can also install Office Mobile apps with a limit of 5 devices.

The cheaper Office 365 plans that provide only cloud services do not qualify, except for some government plans.

Here’s the real qualification rules, buried down in an FAQ.

Any Office 365 subscription plan that includes the full Office desktop applications also include Office Mobile. Specifically, these plans are: Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 Midsize Business, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4, Office 365 Education A3 and A4, Office 365 ProPlus, and Office 365 University. There are also Office 365 government plans that include Office Mobile. You will need to sign in to your Office 365 subscription on first run to activate Office Mobile.


Five device limit

There’s a limit of five devices per Office 365 subscription (at least at the Home Premium level and others reported to us). It’s a limitation totally omitted from Microsoft’s public FAQ about Office Mobile for iPhone or any other public location we could find.

It only came to light when we and other Office-Watch.com readers noticed a change in their Office 365 account page.

Office Mobile - five device limit image from Who can really get Office Mobile for iPhone at Office-Watch.com

The new ‘Mobile Devices’ section says “You can use Office apps on up to 5 select devices’.

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