Microsoft is ending Paint 3D after failed attempts to replace classic Paint in Windows 11 and 10

Remember when you used to have two Paint apps preinstalled on your Windows PC? One was the standard one and the other had 3D features. At one point, Paint 3D was supposed to replace the classic Paint, but now the tables have turned. Microsoft is killing Paint 3D after a few years of dedication to the project.

Paint 3D has been disappearing from your screen for the past three years and will finally disappear on November 4, 2024.

It joins a number of apps, including Mail and Calendar, that have been replaced by Outlook Web. As some users, as well as Windows Latest, have noticed, there’s a new banner in the app announcing the end-of-service date. We spotted the same banner on our Windows 11 Beta Channel machine.

Paint 3D isn’t preinstalled like other popular Microsoft apps, but it is available in the Microsoft Store. Unfortunately, it won’t be available there after November 4 of this year.

While Microsoft announced that the app would not be available in new Windows 10 installs, Windows Latest spotted it preinstalled in a recently created virtual machine. It’s clear that the app appealed to a small group of users, and Microsoft felt it was better to remove it than keep it.

Windows 10 has the old Paint app that has an option to switch to Paint 3D for further image editing. In Windows 11, the new Paint app does not in any way encourage you to switch to its 3D counterpart, which shows that Microsoft was not interested in it.

Paint 3D app is broken after recent updates

Microsoft Store reviews tell a sad story of poor app maintenance.

Paint 3D users have recently started complaining about an issue where the app doesn’t appear in the suggestions list after using the “Open With” option, requiring users to first launch Paint 3D and then browse for an image, giving the impression of “using an app from 25 years ago.”

In 2020, Microsoft made Paint 3D an option in the context menu, but that changed in 2021 when an update removed the option.

The corruption of the simple “Open With” action has now made it harder to edit images in Paint 3D. Some clarity for users wouldn’t hurt much, especially when the app has a positive rating in the Microsoft Store.

It would be cruel to compare it to Blender, but reviews show that it appeals to a small group of Windows users.