Microsoft Excel: Spreadsheets

My Experience with Microsoft Excel: Spreadsheets

I’ve been using this on my Samsung Galaxy A54 for just over a month now. My colleague Dave kept raving about how he could update project budgets on the train, and honestly, I got tired of lugging my laptop around for a five-minute cell fix. The app does what it says—lets you open, tweak, and even build spreadsheets on the go. Last Tuesday evening, I was stuck at a coffee shop waiting for a client who was late, and I needed to adjust some quarterly figures before the meeting. I whipped out my phone, opened the file from OneDrive, and had it sorted in about eight minutes. The interface is cramped on a phone screen—no shock there—but it’s usable. I’ve used it a few times for simple data entry and formula corrections, and it hasn’t crashed on me yet. That said, it’s not the full desktop experience, and I learned that the hard way when I tried to run a macro. It just gave me a blank error. Still, for a free app that keeps me from being chained to my desk, it’s doing its job.

Features Worth Noting

The real-time collaboration actually works. I tested it with Dave last week—we both had the same sheet open on our phones, and I could see his cursor moving and making changes. That’s pretty handy for last-minute fixes when you’re both remote. The formula bar is there, but it’s tiny; you have to tap to expand it, which gets annoying if you’re entering a long calculation. I rely heavily on VLOOKUP and SUMIFS at work, and those work fine in the app. Cloud access is the big win here. I’ve got everything on OneDrive, and the app pulls files instantly—no waiting around. Offline mode saved me on the subway last week when I had no signal; I edited a file, and it synced once I got back online. Charts and tables are easy enough to insert, though formatting options feel stripped down. Don’t expect pivot table creation on this thing—that’s a desktop job. Templates are available, but I rarely use them because my workflow is pretty custom. Overall, the features cover the basics well, but power users will hit walls.

What Needs Work

Let’s be honest: this app is slow sometimes. Opening a file with a few hundred rows and a dozen sheets? It lags. On my Galaxy A54, which isn’t a slouch, I’ve waited a solid ten seconds for a spreadsheet to load. That’s unacceptable when I’m in a hurry. The lack of macro support is a real pain—I have a monthly report that uses a simple macro, and I can’t touch it from my phone. Also, the layout feels like they shrunk the desktop version rather than redesigned it for a phone. I’ve fat-fingered the wrong cell more times than I’d like. Scrolling is jerky on larger files, and sometimes the app freezes for a second when I’m switching between sheets. The support experience wasn’t terrible, but it took three days to get a reply about a sync issue. By then, I’d already fixed it myself. For a Microsoft product, the polish just isn’t there. I expected smoother performance.

Pricing

It’s free to download and use basic features, which is why I tried it. But you’ll quickly notice the upsell. Editing files bigger than a certain size or using advanced features? It nags you to subscribe to Microsoft 365. That subscription runs about $70 a year for personal, or you can get it bundled with other Office apps. I already had a work account, so I didn’t pay out of pocket, but if you don’t have one, the free version feels limited. You can view spreadsheets fine, but editing formulas or creating tables might push you to pay. Honestly, for a busy professional like me, I’d rather pay than deal with the app’s sluggishness, but that’s a separate issue. The pricing model is standard—freemium with a subscription wall—but it’s a bit annoying when a core feature you need is locked behind a paywall.

Developer Notes

Microsoft updates this app pretty regularly. I’ve seen two updates since I installed it, and they fixed a few bugs but didn’t address the performance lag. The changelogs are vague—“performance improvements and bug fixes.” I wish they’d be more specific. The app integrates tightly with OneDrive and SharePoint, which is great if you’re in the Microsoft ecosystem. But if you use Google Drive or Dropbox, the connection feels clunky. I tried linking my Dropbox, and it kept asking me to re-authenticate. That’s frustrating. On the plus side, the app doesn’t feel abandoned; they’re actively developing it. I just wish they’d prioritize speed over adding more features I won’t use on a phone. The developer notes are fine, but I’d like to see them acknowledge the lag issue publicly.

Security & Privacy

This is Microsoft, so security is top-notch. Files are encrypted in transit and at rest if you’re using OneDrive. You sign in with your Microsoft account, and it supports multi-factor authentication, which I appreciate for work files. The app asks for permissions like storage access and camera—I denied the camera one because I don’t need it. I haven’t had any privacy scares, but I’m aware Microsoft collects usage data to improve the app. That’s standard for big tech. The app also has a “Privacy Dashboard” in settings, though I’ve never really dug into it. For work data, I trust it more than a random third-party spreadsheet app. It’s not perfect—the app does ping my location sometimes for features like recently used files—but you can turn that off. Bottom line: it’s safe enough for my client information, but I still avoid putting highly sensitive data on a mobile device.