Logged into 365 basic in but account says buy sub to edit

Question

Logged into 365 basic in but account says buy sub to edit

peter pounds 0

I have a 365 basic account which works fine on hp laptop & Motorola phone &:allows me to create & edit documents. When I log into Microsoft account on my Samsung tablet displays my files but will not allow create or edit, pop up says buy a subscription. How can I fix this please?

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Answer 1

Microsoft 365 Basic does not include the full mobile app premium features on all devices. On devices where there is no qualifying subscription for the signed-in account, the Office apps allow viewing (and some basic editing in limited cases) but show a prompt to buy a subscription when trying to use premium features.

To create and fully edit documents in the Office mobile apps (Word, Excel, etc.) across devices, a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription is required, such as Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or one of the listed business/enterprise/education plans. Microsoft 365 Basic is listed as a non‑qualifying plan, which means:

It does not unlock the extra mobile app features.
When accessing premium features, the apps will show a message to purchase a subscription.

On the Samsung tablet, the apps are behaving as expected for a non‑qualifying plan. To fix this:

Keep using the apps in view/basic mode where allowed, or
Use the free web versions via a browser at Office.com, or
Upgrade the subscription to a qualifying plan (for example, Microsoft 365 Personal or Family) so that full mobile editing is enabled on all devices when signed in with the same account.

Details on qualifying vs non‑qualifying plans and what can be done in the mobile apps are in the referenced documentation.

References:

Answer 2

EmilyS726 264.4K Independent Advisor

Hello

Microsoft 365 Basic is a plan that doesn't include Office apps, but only includes 100GB of OneDrive storage.

Are you sure that's what you have? You need Microsoft 365 personal or family to use the desktop version of Office Apps.

You said it worked fine on your HP laptop, are you using the web version or desktop version? Web version via www.office.com > Apps, and mobile versions are always free - so that can be why you could use it?

If you are for sure using the desktop version on HP, you might have a different license there. In any of the apps, like Word, or Excel, can you go to Files > Accounts, and see what it says, See example of what it says on mine

User's image

Once we have a clear idea what license you are on, I will have a better idea what was wrong and what options you have.

peter pounds 0 Reputation points

2026-03-19T18:45:56.4766667+00:00

I just logged into my account at account.microsoft.com and subscription says Microsoft 365 basic which is active (subscription £1.99 per month). I use one drive to back up all my files,vit has 45.2 GB used of 100gb
EmilyS726 264.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-19T18:49:08.02+00:00

So yeah, basic doesn't include the apps. As you can read here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/microsoft-365-basic/cfq7ttc0ktxs

What I like to find out is, how you managed to use it on HP laptop, did you use it via web browser, or app version? If it is via app version, I need you to follow the instruction I gave you, open Word, or Excel, click on Files > Accounts, and show me what it says, see the example of my screenshot, that will give me some idea what license the HP might have.