Skip to main content

Announcing the retirement of legacy Power BI Apps (pre-audiences)

Headshot of article author Jadelyn Ray

Legacy Power BI apps, the versions of apps before the release of apps with audiences, will no longer be supported as of May 1, 2024. We encourage you to upgrade or rebuild your Power BI apps using Power BI apps with audiences. 

How to upgrade 

Legacy Power BI apps can be upgraded directly from the workspace your app is in or from the Update app option in the authoring view.

In both the workspace and authoring view a banner will be displayed, click Upgrade now and your app will be upgraded immediately. 

You will also see an upgrade prompt in the authoring view like the image below if you haven’t managed your app for a long period of time. 

 

Want to start fresh with your app? To rebuild your app, instead of upgrading, go to the “” menu in your workspace and click Unpublish app. The Create app button will be available in your workspace and any new app you create will be a new Power BI app with audiences. 

What’s different about Power BI apps with audiences? 

After the release of Power BI apps with audiences we listened carefully to your feedback and optimized the latest version of apps by increasing the maximum number of audiences from 10 to 25, bringing back the ability to hide included content from the app nav, and copy links from the authoring experience. 

As you upgrade your legacy Power BI apps to apps with audiences note these key differences in how you manage content and access: 

Content Management: In the new Power BI apps with audiences, content is added via the Update app feature by navigating to the Content tab and clicking Add content. This is a departure from the previous method of using the Included in app toggle from the workspace list view. Of note, this legacy toggle is an example of a feature that will not be supported for legacy Power BI apps as we upgrade workspaces for Fabric. 

Audience Group Selection: A pending request will not be approved unless an audience group is selected for the consumer. This can be done by clicking the Audience drop-down button on the app permission management page. 

Content Visibility: By default, all newly added content to an already published app is marked as invisible. App authors must manually unhide content for each audience group. 

For a comprehensive understanding of additional Power BI apps with audience’s considerations we encourage you to review the details provided here. 

Additionally, there are some key differences between the legacy version of Power BI apps and new Power BI apps with audiences: 

  • The list view landing experience in legacy Power BI apps is no longer supported. When upgrading, consider which content you’d like app users to land on. The first navigation item visible per audience will be used as the default landing location for your app users. 
  • While legacy Power BI apps allowed you to turn off navigation completely, new Power BI apps do not offer this option. However, you can hide the navigation by default. 

Once you upgrade to the new Power BI apps with audiences, you will not be able to revert to the legacy version. 

What does dropping support mean?

Power BI is not disabling or forcing an immediate upgrade of all apps to the new Power BI apps with audiences. However, starting May 2024, technical support for legacy Power BI apps will cease. 

We encourage you to embrace this change and upgrade to the new Power BI apps with audiences at your earliest convenience. This transition will ensure you and your app users continue to have access to the latest features and support from our team. 

As you upgrade and try out Power BI apps with multiple audiences and have feedback or questions, please comment on this blog post or submit ideas (mention “org apps” in your idea title). Our team is investing in the future of Power BI apps now and will look for your ideas, comments, and feedback and may reach out for previews of updates coming to Power BI apps.

Also, sign up if you’d like to be considered for future Power BI app feedback opportunities like surveys, email outreach, or a call.