Org apps vs Workspace apps for Fabric and Power BI

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Announced in November 2024, org apps are a new way to distribute workspace items like Power BI reports, notebooks and real-time dashboards across an organization. For a long time, Power BI users have asked for the ability to have multiple apps per workspace. This demand was partially alleviated by the introduction of app audiences (preview August 2022, general availability March 2023), but there were still limitations like 10, then 25 maximum audiences and no ability to use custom themes and graphics per audience.

Org apps give users much more flexibility than what was previously available, and they are created and maintained just like any other workspace item. Other differences are the ability to include notebooks and real-time dashboards along with Power BI reports, automatically granting and revoking access to underlying items and support for Fabric Git integration. Unlike workspace apps, org apps do not require updating when included reports change. Like workspace apps, all items added to an org app must come from the same workspace.

Key comparison between org apps and traditional workspace apps

		Org apps	Workspace apps
Number of apps per Workspace		Multiple	1 (with multiple audiences)
App users automatically get read access to individual items in app		Yes	No
Revoking app access also revokes read access to individual app items*		Yes	No
Apps can include notebooks and real-time dashboards		Yes	No
Support for CI/CD with Fabric Git integration		Yes	No
App contents change automatically to match reports without the need to update app		Yes	No
Apps can include items from multiple workspaces		No	No

Enabling org apps

Since org apps are in preview, before creating an app the preview feature must be enabled by a Fabric Administrator. Additionally, org apps currently require a workspace backed by a premium or Fabric capacity. Microsoft says that org apps for Pro workspaces are currently being worked on.

Creating your first org app

Unlike workspace apps, org apps are visible as a workspace item and are created the same way. To create a new org app, select + New Item, then Org app (preview).

 

You will be prompted to enter a name for the app. Enter an app name and select Create. The app is created and you are taken to the Add content page. The Add content page is very similar to its counterpart in workspace apps.

From this page, select the items you want to include in the app.  Along with workspace content, you can also add section breaks, links and an overview page. At any time, select Preview app to see what the app users will see. When finished adding content to the app, click Save. After the changes have been saved, you will be prompted to either Manage Access or View app.

Select Manage access to grant app access to users and groups. Optionally, you can grant users share permissions allowing them to share the app with others and send users an email notification letting them know about their new access.

CI/CD for org apps

Because org apps are just another workspace item, they are included as part of Fabric Git integration including backup and version control, multi-user collaboration, and scripting.

Deployment pipelines also support org apps, allowing for automated or manual deployment with multiple stages.

Conclusion

Org apps are a powerful and flexible way to distribute workspace items to end users. They are still in preview and under development, so we can look forward to more features being added in the future including paginated reports and improved support for mobile. For now, org apps co-exist with workspace apps, and you can even have both types of apps for a single workspace. According to Microsoft there is no timeline for the deprecation of workspace apps, so feel free to choose whichever app experience best serves the needs of your user base.