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Microsoft
Microsoft will retire several standalone Azure Communication Services (ACS) offerings — including Email, SMS, WhatsApp messaging, Chat, Rooms, Direct Routing, Job Router and the Web/Mobile UI Library SDKs — on 30 September 2028; the ACS calling services undergo breaking changes and will continue to function only with Microsoft Teams and only after apps update to the latest SDKs
departs 30 Sept 2028
Quick answers
- Is it true that Azure Communication Services retires its standalone Email, SMS, Chat and messaging services on 30 September 2028?
- Yes. Microsoft has officially announced it, effective 30 Sept 2028. Microsoft is retiring a large slice of **Azure Communication Services (ACS)** on **30 September 2028**.
- When does it take effect?
- 30 Sept 2028. Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- Microsoft directs customers to the **ACS Retirement and Breaking Change FAQ** for specifics.
What this means for you
Microsoft is retiring a large slice of **Azure Communication Services (ACS)** on **30 September 2028**. Two distinct changes are bundled in the same notice. First, a set of ACS services will be **fully retired and stop functioning** after the date, with no successor named in the notice: **Email, SMS, Advanced Messaging with WhatsApp, Chat, Chat for Teams Meeting Interop, Rooms, Number Management (Direct Offer), Direct Routing, Job Router, the Web UI Library SDK, and the Mobile UI Library SDK**. Any application that sends transactional email or SMS through ACS, runs a chat feature on ACS Chat, routes work items through Job Router, or embeds the ACS UI libraries will stop working on that date. Second, the ACS **calling** services — **Voice/Video Calling SDK, Call Diagnostics, Call Automation, Audio Streaming, Call Recording, and Closed Captions** — are not being removed but are undergoing **breaking changes**: they will continue to function only when used with **Microsoft Teams**, and only for apps that update to the latest SDKs. A standalone ACS calling implementation, or any implementation that has not moved to the latest SDKs by the date, is no longer supported and stops functioning after it. The runway is long — nearly two years — but ACS underpins production email, SMS and voice/video for many apps, so this is a plan-ahead migration, not a same-week fix.
Where to go
Microsoft directs customers to the **ACS Retirement and Breaking Change FAQ** for specifics. Treat the two groups differently. For the **fully retiring** services (Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Chat, Rooms, Number Management, Direct Routing, Job Router, and the UI Library SDKs) the notice names no in-platform replacement, so plan a **provider migration**: choose an alternative email/SMS/chat provider and budget for the integration work, since these are capabilities being withdrawn rather than versioned. For the **calling** services (Voice/Video Calling, Call Automation, Call Recording, Call Diagnostics, Audio Streaming, Closed Captions), the path is to **update to the latest ACS SDKs and adopt the Microsoft Teams–based model** before the date — standalone, non-Teams calling stops being supported. Inventory now which ACS features each of your apps uses, map each to the retire-vs-breaking-change list above, and stage the work across the two-year window rather than leaving it to 2028.
- For calling: update to the latest ACS SDKs and the Microsoft Teams–based model (Microsoft's stated path for the calling services)
- For Email / SMS / Chat / messaging: an alternative third-party communications provider (the notice names no in-platform replacement)
Microsoft has announced that a large part of Azure Communication Services (ACS) will be retired on 30 September 2028. The official Azure Updates notice (id 557117, confirmed here against Microsoft’s release-communications API) splits the change into two groups.
Fully retired — stop functioning after 30 September 2028, with no replacement named in the notice:
- SMS
- Advanced Messaging with WhatsApp
- Chat, and Chat for Teams Meeting Interop
- Rooms
- Number Management (Direct Offer)
- Direct Routing
- Job Router
- Web UI Library SDK
- Mobile UI Library SDK
Breaking changes — continue to function only with Microsoft Teams, and only after updating to the latest SDKs:
- Voice/Video Calling SDK
- Call Diagnostics
- Call Automation
- Audio Streaming
- Call Recording
- Closed Captions
Microsoft’s wording is blunt about the second group: “Standalone ACS calling implementations, or any implementation that does not update to the latest SDKs by September 30, 2028, will no longer be supported and will stop functioning after this date.”
For most teams this is a plan-ahead migration. If your product sends email or SMS through ACS, runs a chat surface on ACS Chat, or routes work through Job Router, those capabilities are going away outright and you will need a different provider — the notice names no in-platform successor for them. If you use ACS calling, the feature survives, but only via the Microsoft Teams model and the latest SDKs, so the work is an SDK upgrade plus a shift away from any standalone calling setup.
There is nearly two years of runway, which is the good news; the risk is that ACS often sits underneath production communications, so the useful move now is to inventory which of these services each application actually uses and stage the migration across the window. Microsoft points customers to the ACS Retirement and Breaking Change FAQ for the per-service detail.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from Microsoft's official Azure Updates retirement notice (id 557117), verified via the Microsoft release-communications API, which enumerates the fully-retiring services and the calling services that undergo breaking changes, all dated 30 September 2028. detect left empty deliberately: the retirement notice does not name package identifiers, and per SOURCING §6 a fingerprint must come from the primary source and never be guessed — npm candidates (@azure/communication-email, @azure/communication-sms) are noted for future verification against Microsoft's own SDK docs before any fingerprint ships. Backfilled per B-087.
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