Audience Access App Updates Not Applying – North Central US Tenant

[carloscantu]

Hi everyone,

This morning, I noticed that updates to the Audience Access app are not being applied to users in our environment. I also attempted to grant access at the workspace level, but that didn’t resolve the issue.

Our tenant is located in the North Central US region.
Is anyone else experiencing similar behavior, or is there any known issue currently affecting this functionality?

Appreciate any insights or suggestions!

Thanks,
Carlos

[rohit1991]

hi @carloscantu 
What you're experiencing may be related to a regional service delay or a temporary sync issue within the Power BI Service, particularly affecting the North Central US region. There have been occasional instances where updates to the Audience Access app—such as changes in permissions, visibility, or user assignments—take longer than expected to propagate across the tenant, especially when combined with workspace-level changes.

If access changes aren't reflecting immediately, try asking affected users to manually refresh their app or clear their browser cache. Also, double-check that the audience settings are correctly saved and published from the Power BI Service. If the problem persists, it's worth checking the Microsoft Fabric Service health portal or opening a support ticket to confirm whether there are ongoing backend issues specific to your region. In some cases, full resolution may require backend refreshes or intervention from Microsoft.

[carloscantu]

Thank you for your feedback Rohit,

The issue was that I forgot to enable the "Install this app automatically" option under the app advanced settings.

Best regards,

Carlos Cantu

[carloscantu]

HI @GilbertQ thank you for your message. I can't think of a good way to show what I'm describing, but here are some additional details. I'm adding a test user to an audience, and when I log in to the app impersonating the test user, the app isn't available. I have an E5 license assigned, which includes the Power BI Pro license.

[v-sshirivolu · Accepted solution]

Hi @carloscantu ,

Thanks for the clarification!

Since you're using an E5 license (which includes Power BI Pro) and still unable to see the app when impersonating a test user added to the audience, here are a few targeted steps you can try:

Things to Check & Try:

1. Wait Time After Publishing
   Audience changes can sometimes take a few minutes to propagate. After adding the user and publishing the app, wait 5–10 minutes, then test again.

2. Direct Access via App URL
   Try logging in as the test user and open the app directly using its URL (instead of navigating from "Apps"). This helps confirm if it’s a visibility issue or an actual access failure.

3. Check User Visibility Settings in App
   Make sure under the audience settings, the “Show this app in AppSource” option is turned on for that audience. If it's off, the user won’t see it in their apps list.

4. Workspace Access Conflict
   If the test user has any workspace role assigned (e.g., Member or Viewer), it may interfere with how audience-based visibility is enforced. Try removing them from workspace access and keep only the audience assignment.

5. Use “View as Role” in Power BI Service
   Instead of impersonating manually, use the “Test as role” or “View as” feature if available within Power BI apps (in the workspace UI), to simulate the experience.

6. Tenant/Region-Specific Propagation Delays
   Since your tenant is in North Central US, consider that this may be a backend delay. Others have reported rare cases where audience updates lag in certain regions.

If none of these steps work, I’d recommend opening a Microsoft support ticket to confirm if there are any region-specific issues or tenant-level misconfigurations.

Hope this helps!

If the response has addressed your query, please Accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it

Best Regards,
Sreeteja.
Community Support Team 

[carloscantu]

Hi Sreeteja,

Thank you, after looking at your suggestions, I reviewed the app settings, and I noticed that I forgot to enable the "Install this app automatically" option under the advanced settings.

This fixed the issue! 

Best regards,
Carlos Cantu

[GilbertQ]

Hi @carloscantu 

What happens if you use the app link when you logged in as a test user to see if you can access the app?

[carloscantu]

Hi @GilbertQ , I got a message saying something like "you don't have access and need to request it".

[GilbertQ]

Hi @carloscantu 

Would it please be possible to show an example of the issue you are experiencing? I have not heard or seen any others experiencing this issue. Also, if you can please confirm that you do have a power BI Pro or power BI premium per user license.