Updated timeline for retiring default app-only consistency in Microsoft Entra

[What and Why:]

As a follow-up to our earlier communications (MC1268930, April 2026) and the scream tests conducted in July 2026 (MC1307977), we want to provide an update on the retirement timeline for the default app-only session consistency behavior in Microsoft Entra.

During the July scream tests, we identified few customer and application scenarios that experienced issues related to the retirement of the default app-only session consistency behavior. Based on these findings, we are extending the retirement timeline to provide customers with additional time to investigate, validate, and remediate any dependencies before the change is permanently enforced.

The permanent retirement of the default app-only session consistency behavior, originally planned for completion by the end of July 2026, has been rescheduled to September 21st through September 30th, 2026. This updated timeline provides additional time following our validation activities to help ensure a smooth rollout experience.

[Rollout Schedule:]

Global: We will begin rolling out on September 21, 2026, and expect to complete by September 30, 2026.

[Impact on your organization:]

Once the default app-only session consistency behavior is disabled, applications using app-only access with Microsoft Entra Graph APIs will switch over to eventual consistency.

Applications that perform immediate read-after-write or write-after-write operations using app-only access may experience:

• Delayed data visibility
• Differences in query results immediately after write operations

Delegated (user-based) access scenarios are not impacted.

This change permanently retires the existing app-only session consistency behavior. Applications should be validated and updated ahead of the September 21st, 2026 deadline to avoid disruption.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

• Use the AppIDs below to locate the corresponding applications in Microsoft Entra ID.
• Review whether these applications perform read or write operations immediately after a write using app-only tokens. Use the guidance here: Designing for Eventual Consistency for Microsoft Entra for removing dependency on this feature.
• Validate post-disablement application behavior by testing with the request header ConsistencyLevel: Eventual.
• Prioritize validation and remediation before September 21, 2026.

AppID(s):

a08effb0-6b76-4461-a884-5c4c22d19c0f