The first article I linked had this comment near the top:
Yeah, the "New Outlook" is absolute ****. Same thing on macOS -- the new version lacks several key features the old one had (most egregious to me is the lack of complete support for local folders, which I absolutely cannot do without).
Outlook for mobile devices is no different when it comes to the privacy angle according to Microsoft's website (
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sync-your-account-in-outlook-to-the-microsoft-cloud-985f9e19-d308-4e85-9d1d-0c6f32f8e981#officeversion=ios_&_android) the cloud sync that is a privacy nightmare is included in Outlook for iOS, Outlook for Android, and new Outlook for Mac. So if your okay with Microsoft storing your other email service's credentials and email on their cloud servers when using their mobile apps, then by all mean enjoy the experience.
If you think you will just stay with the legacy Outlook, that comes to an end come 2029 when they are going to force everyone into the new Outlook, which I would expect to happen on MacOS also.
I completely agree there are too many versions, something they did also with Teams. How is Microsoft writing the best software in history when you have something this confusing along with the stripping down of features and privacy?