Redmond making new change to default apps on Windows 10

May 6, 2016 07:32 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is giving up on the PDF Reader app that’s available in Windows 10 Mobile in order to focus entirely on Edge browser, which can also open docs and handle them like a traditional PDF reader.

Microsoft’s Edge is Redmond’s big bet in the browser world and in addition to many improvements that the company has been planning for the app, including extension support, the application is also benefitting from a strong push among Windows 10 users.

Phasing out the PDF Reader app and replacing it with Edge is part of this struggle to make the browser more popular, but also a Microsoft effort to streamline the experience with Windows 10 Mobile and eliminate redundant apps whose role can already be performed by another one.

According to a report by WindowsCentral, Windows 10 Mobile users have until July 1 to migrate to Microsoft Edge on their phones, as the PDF Reader will no longer work beyond this date.

Microsoft’s Edge lack of PDF features

While it does make sense for Microsoft to discontinue the PDF Reader app and replace it with Microsoft Edge since the browser can also handle PDF documents, the lack of features in this case is actually more troublesome for Windows 10 Mobile users.

For example, printing PDFs in Microsoft Edge cannot be done right now, and this is exactly the case of password-protected files as well.

It goes without saying that users can always turn to third-party apps should they need a more powerful PDF reader and at this point, there are two very popular and capable options in the store: Adobe’s own Reader and Foxit Reader.

Both provide a wide range of features on mobile devices and can be installed free of charge, so it’s hard to believe that Edge would actually be used as a PDF reader on too many Windows 10 Mobile devices once the switch takes place.