Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist Ending: What Replaces Them?

If you run maintenance or field service on Dynamics 365, this deadline can surface late, and the renewal you expected to negotiate is not on offer: Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement states, “Please note, subscriptions may be purchased or renewed until November 1, 2025.” Meanwhile technicians still open work orders whose maintenance checklists point to a guide, and experts still take calls from the field. Two things can go wrong from this point. The date passes and the first shift of the new year finds a checklist that still points to a guide the app can no longer open. Or the first replacement product pitched is bought before anyone checks where it keeps maintenance content or which government cloud it runs in. This guide sets out what stops, where the apps are wired in, what to do with authored guides and their data, how remote expert calls continue, and the criteria for choosing what replaces the work instructions.

What stops at the end of support, and what stays

If your plan reads end of support as the day technical support ends while the apps keep running, it is planning for the wrong day. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement states: “Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist will reach end of support on December 31, 2026.” It continues: “After December 31, 2026 these products will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, or technical support.” And then: “The apps will no longer be functional, however, the data will still be retained in their Dataverse environment(s).” For planning, treat November 1, 2025 as already past, with no renewal to negotiate, and December 31, 2026 as the day the apps stop, not only the day support calls end.

Field Service documentation repeats the note. Microsoft’s Collaborate in mixed reality with Field Service and Remote Assist page states: “Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist will no longer be available after December 31, 2026.”

Microsoft’s lifecycle product pages for Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist list 12/31/2026 in the Retirement Date column of their support-dates tables, and each page notes that its support dates are shown in the Pacific Time Zone. Take the date from the announcement, December 31, 2026, and plan to finish well before it rather than to an hour on that day.

Find every place the apps are wired in, not only every license

When you build the inventory from the license list alone, it will miss use, because Field Service users can reach Remote Assist without a Remote Assist purchase. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement starts its action list with the inventory: “Identify users and scenarios that rely on Dynamics 365 Guides or Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and prepare to move before December 31, 2026.”

Microsoft’s Collaborate in mixed reality with Field Service and Remote Assist page says of that integration: “Both users need a Field Service license, which gives them access to Remote Assist too.” It adds: “Calls are initiated through Teams.” Remote Assist use can therefore exist where no one bought Remote Assist by name.

Guides can also sit inside Field Service work. Microsoft’s Integrate Guides with Field Service page states: “Integration with Dynamics 365 Guides lets Field Service users attach mixed reality guides to Field Service tasks.”

On the maintenance side, Microsoft’s Integrate Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (Asset management) with Dynamics 365 Guides page states: “If a guide is associated with an Asset Management work order, a worker who opens the work order’s maintenance checklist in the Supply Chain Management (Dynamics 365) mobile app sees that a guide is available.” Associations spread: “For example, a guide that is associated with a maintenance job type is automatically associated with all work orders that specify that job type.” The same page lists dual-write as a prerequisite: “Turn on dual-write for Supply Chain Management apps.”

One detail matters for whoever maintains that configuration. As read on October 20, 2026, the Asset management integration page carries no end-of-support note, while the Field Service integration pages, such as Integrate Guides with Field Service, carry Microsoft’s note that Guides and Remote Assist “will no longer be available after December 31, 2026.” Someone reading only the Asset management documentation sees no warning.

Build the inventory from configuration and call use first, then from licenses:

• Asset management job types and maintenance checklists with an associated guide, since each association reaches every work order of that job type.
• Field Service tasks with an attached guide.
• Teams call patterns in which a technician shares their view with an expert, and who on each call holds a Field Service, Guides or Remote Assist license.
• The people who author guides or run them on HoloLens, from the license assignments.

Microsoft’s pages read for this guide do not say what a work order’s guide association shows once the apps stop working. Treat every association as something to remove or repoint before the date, not something to discover afterward.

What to do with authored guides and their data

The harder decision is what happens to the guides your team has already authored, because the export step Microsoft names is not a portable export. Microsoft’s announcement lists “Export data from the Guides PC app” as the export action and points to packaging. Microsoft’s Package a guide in Dynamics 365 Guides page states: “Use a packaged guide to archive versions of a guide, easily migrate guides between environments, or quickly share content with others regardless of permission levels.” It also sets the limits: “The packaged guide can’t be edited and can only be viewed with a HoloLens device in operator mode.” And: “A packaged guide can’t be opened in the PC app.” Its limitations list includes “Maximum of 2 GB for a packaged guide”.

Packaging also changes who can see the content. The same Package a guide in Dynamics 365 Guides page states: “Packaged content is no longer protected by permissions that might be set by your organization.” For a maintenance program, that is the sentence to read twice. If a guide holds restricted technical data, a package moved outside the environment carries that content without the permissions that governed it. Whether a given guide holds such data is a determination for your export-control or trade-compliance function, and it is made before any package leaves the environment.

The data itself stays where it is. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement says the data “will still be retained in their Dataverse environment(s)” after the apps stop. That makes the step text and media in Dataverse a starting point for rebuilding instructions elsewhere, but the Microsoft pages read for this guide describe no bulk export or conversion path beyond packaging. Confirm the method with Microsoft, or in the replacement’s own documentation, before you plan on it.

Decide one of these for each guide, and record the decision:

• Archive it as a package, only if it must be kept for record, knowing the package opens only on HoloLens in operator mode.
• Rebuild it in the replacement from the step text and media retained in Dataverse, if technicians still need it.
• Retire it, if the task has changed or the guide is no longer used.

Before any of the three, record who owns the guide and whether it holds restricted technical data.

Remote expert calls after Remote Assist

When a technician on a job needs an expert to see what they see, Microsoft points to a path with conditions worth checking call pattern by call pattern. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement says “Certain Remote Assist scenarios may be supported” by the spatial annotation feature in Microsoft Teams Mobile. It says certain scenarios, not all of them.

Microsoft’s Use spatial annotations through Microsoft Teams mobile page sets the prerequisites. The first reads: “At least one person on the call has a Dynamics 365 Field Service, Guides, or Remote Assist license.” The page adds: “The system only requires one licensed user to unlock spatial annotation capabilities to all other mobile and desktop users.” The technician who shares their space needs a phone or tablet with augmented reality support, from the platforms the page lists. For calls with people outside your organization: “Make sure your Teams admin has enabled meetings for external users.” Microsoft describes the purpose this way: “Technicians can share their real-time view with experts in remote locations to get the help they need, reducing travel time and cost.”

Two points are open, and both belong in writing from Microsoft for your tenant before you rely on this path. First, the page states the license rule as it stands today; confirm whether a Field Service license alone still enables spatial annotation once Guides and Remote Assist licenses end. Second, the page does not scope itself by cloud, and Microsoft’s government availability table has no Teams row; if your tenant is in GCC or GCC High, confirm that spatial annotation is available there.

For each call pattern, name the participant who holds the license that enables annotation, and test the pattern end to end with that person on the call before the date.

Replacing step-by-step work instructions: criteria, not products

When you choose what replaces step-by-step work instructions, you face the decision most open to a product pitch, because Microsoft’s announcement names no Microsoft successor for Guides. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement says: “A variety of mixed reality solutions are available on the Microsoft Marketplace that may meet your organizational needs.” That sentence names no product and recommends none. The choice is yours, and it is easier to defend when it is made against written criteria.

Ask each candidate to:

• State where it stores maintenance content, and whether that location sits inside the government cloud your contracts require.
• Show how it reads or imports the step text and media retained in Dataverse.
• Show how it attaches to your Field Service tasks or Asset management maintenance checklists, or state plainly that it does not.
• State which devices it supports, and whether HoloLens is one of them.
• Show how it enforces access permissions on content, since packaging drops the permissions your environment set.

This guide names no product and ranks none. The criteria are the comparison.

If you run in GCC or GCC High

If your Dynamics 365 environment runs in a US government cloud, the availability table decides which of these apps your environment could run. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 US Government page publishes an availability table with GCC, GCC High and DoD columns. As read on October 20, 2026, the table shows:

• Dynamics 365 Field Service in the GCC, GCC High and DoD columns.
• Dynamics 365 Guides in the GCC column only.
• Dynamics 365 Remote Assist on HoloLens or HoloLens 2 in the GCC and GCC High columns, and not in DoD.

The same Dynamics 365 US Government page states: “Some features aren’t available in all U.S. Government clouds.” It also says: “Check back monthly for important updates.” Check each replacement, and the Teams path in the remote expert calls section, against the column for your cloud rather than against commercial documentation.

That table describes availability. It does not settle whether your contracts require GCC High or whether given work instructions are restricted technical data; those determinations belong to your contracting officer and your export-control or trade-compliance function. If the transition sits inside a GCC or GCC High Dynamics 365 environment, Dynamics 365 implementation hiring for government contractors covers choosing a firm for that environment.

The order of work before the deadline

Sequencing matters because one step depends on an app that stops: the content plan runs through the Guides PC app, which stops working at the end of support. Work in this order, and finish before December 31, 2026, the date in Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement:

1. Inventory job types, maintenance checklists, Field Service tasks, call patterns and users.
2. Decide and carry out the content plan for each guide while the Guides PC app still works.
3. Stand up and test the Teams spatial annotation pattern for each call pattern, with the named license holder on the call.
4. Select the work-instruction replacement against the replacement criteria.
5. Remove or repoint the guide associations on job types, checklists and Field Service tasks.
6. Leave margin before the date for anything the tests uncover.

When this guide is the wrong starting point

If your situation is one of these, start somewhere else, or treat this guide as only part of the answer.

• If no one uses Guides or Remote Assist and neither is wired into a work order, the only task is removing the dependency from your design; the rest of this guide does not apply.
• If mixed-reality work instructions on HoloLens are central to your maintenance program, the real decision is which product to adopt; this guide gives criteria and does not name or rank products.
• If remote support is plain video with no need to annotate the technician’s space, an ordinary Teams call already covers it, and the license question for spatial annotation does not arise.
• If the maintenance or asset management system itself is being re-selected, make that fit decision first and fold this transition into it.
• If your environment is DoD, Microsoft’s table does not list Guides or Remote Assist there; the date matters only for any commercial or GCC tenant still in use.

What to ask of whoever does the work

Whether your own team or an outside firm carries out the transition, ask for these in writing, finished before the date in Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist reaching end of support on December 31, 2026 announcement:

• A list of every job type, maintenance checklist and Field Service task that points to a guide.
• The owner of each authored guide, and whether it holds restricted technical data.
• The content plan for each guide: archive as a package, rebuild, or retire.
• The license holder who enables spatial annotation for each call pattern, and evidence that the pattern works in your cloud.
• The replacement’s data location, checked against the government-cloud column for your tenant.
• The configuration handed to your team at the end, with support for what was built.

How i3solutions approaches it

When a maintenance or field organization has to move off Guides and Remote Assist before the end of support, the work i3solutions does is on the Dynamics 365 side: inventorying where guides are associated with job types, maintenance checklists and Field Service tasks, removing or repointing those associations, handling the guide data retained in Dataverse, and configuring Field Service and Teams for the remote-call pattern, as a project with embedded specialists where your team needs them. The choice of work-instruction product stays with your organization, made against the replacement criteria.

i3solutions implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 for regulated enterprises, including customizing Field Service to align with unique business logic, workflows, and UI requirements. i3solutions has delivered Dynamics 365 integration engagements for regulated enterprises across healthcare, defense and aerospace manufacturing, and financial services. i3solutions builds Dynamics 365 integrations using named Microsoft mechanisms including Dataverse, dual write, virtual tables, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Service Bus, and Power Automate connectors. i3solutions has completed more than 20 Dynamics 365 integration engagements. Its Dynamics 365 developers and consultants are all U.S.-based. i3solutions has been a Microsoft Partner with 30 years of enterprise technology delivery experience and has delivered 1,500+ Microsoft engagements across aerospace and defense, financial services, and health sciences.

Ongoing operation after the handover is a separate Application Managed Services engagement with its own scope; the Guides transition itself does not replace the internal team, run open-ended, or create vendor lock-in. The configuration is handed to your team, with support for what was built. This work sits within i3solutions’ Dynamics 365 practice, described in Dynamics 365 development services.