Microsoft Places retiring the “favorite contacts” feature

Microsoft Places will retire the “favorite contacts” feature in early December 2025, replacing it with a “frequent contacts” system aligned with other Microsoft 365 apps. Users and admins will lose related controls, and no action is needed; organizations should update documentation and inform users. Introduction We’re updating the People experience in Microsoft Places to better align with other Microsoft 365 apps. The ability to edit favorite contacts specific to Places will be removed, and Places will use the same “frequent contacts” logic as other Microsoft 365 apps. As part of this realignment, we’re also removing the ability for tenant admins to control whether specific users can be added to other users’ list of favorite contacts specific to Places, which was controlled by Set-PlacesSetting -AllowInConnectionsList. Microsoft Places is a hybrid scheduling and workplace coordination app in Microsoft 365 that helps users understand where their colleagues plan to work—whether remotely or in the office—and coordinate in-person collaboration. It integrates with Outlook and Teams to surface location-aware insights like who’s coming into the office and when. When this will happen: This feature will retire in early December 2025 How this affects your organization: Who is affected: All users of Microsoft Places across Microsoft 365 tenants. What will happen: Users will no longer be able to manage or view “favorite contacts” in the Places app. Tenant admins will no longer be able to control whether specific users can be added to other users’ list of favorite contacts specific to Places. Places Cards in Teams and Outlook calendars will display frequent contacts based on Microsoft 365 usage patterns. No admin action is required to enable this change; it will be applied automatically. What you can do to prepare: Inform users about the upcoming change to avoid confusion. Update internal documentation and training materials that reference “favorite contacts” in Microsoft Places. Revise any custom workflows or helpdesk scripts referencing this feature. Compliance considerations: No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization. Message ID: MC1182693

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