How to claim free Microsoft Office 365 subscription on Lumia 640 / 640 XL purchase

While Microsoft offers some freebies through OneDrive storage and such, the one that stands out for professionals and gadget users, is the free license they are getting for the Office 365 subscription. That subscription is not only for the Windows Phone device, i.e. the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL we are talking about here, but the same can be used on one PC/Mac computer, and a tablet device as well.

Many users might be in an assumption that the subscription is limited to the Windows Phone device, but Microsoft is offering quite more than that. It is a one-year subscription, and here’s how you can get the license / subscription that you can use even on your Windows or Mac PC.

Read our Microsoft Lumia 640 XL hands-on.

Once you are done setting up your Lumia 640 / 640 XL (we used the latter one to claim), go to the App Store and search for the app named “Office 365 Gift”. You’ll see an app with the gift icon. Download that, and open the application.

You’ll see the following message, saying “Thank you for buying a Microsoft Lumia Phone! Tap continue to claim your 1-year Office 365 Personal subscription”. Tap on continue, and you’ll be taken through a few steps where you need to enter your email address. That email is where the activation link will be sent, after the device eligibility is checked and confirmed.

Note: Make sure you are using a correct email address, because once that email is entered, you cannot edit it and you will see an option of only resending the activation email to the same address.

Once you receive the email, you will see it activated and the next email would say “We’re sending this message to confirm that you have successfully activated Office 365 Personal on Day/Date. Here are the details..”. All done, you’ll be able to download and active the Office 365 subscription on your computer or tablet device or smartphone using the 25 digit activation code that you get in the message, or in the Office 365 website.

This is a one-year free subscription with the phones, and the offer is set to end by the end of June 2015. So make sure you claim it if you have bought one.