Welp, we all knew it was coming. Epicor's development team has been warning us for years now. Yet the announcement still hit hard now that it's finally happened. As of version 2026.1, coming in May of 2026, Epicor will no longer ship with the Smart Client application. That means Epicor will be a (nearly) 100% browser application.
Don't get me wrong, I love Kinetic in the browser. In most cases, it's a snappier user experience, and I definitely prefer having a dozen tabs open to having a dozen WinForms floating around my screen. That said, users have brought up some issues with Kinetic Forms in general, and browser functionality in particular, that we all hope will be addressed. As you can see from the link above, there are already a lot of solutions (or at least workarounds) for many of the issues. There's also a fantastic community of Epicor users ready to help out in the EpiUsers forum.
Some key points:
- Cloud / SaaS customers are now on the clock. You'll have around 18 months from now to DX your classic customizations for Kinetic Applications and get your users trained. On-Prem users have a bit longer, with the ability to stay on v2025.2 for an additional 2 years before it moves to Sustaining Support.
- A handful of Kinetic Tools will still be used outside the browser, including Data Management Tool (DMT), Epicor Functions, Advanced Print Routing (APR), and Service Designer for SDK (per Client Sunset FAQ). It seems like these will be shipped as the "Kinetic Power Tools" package.
- The Edge Agent will still be maintained to assist with printing and drag & drop functionality.
Big changes like this are tough, I get it. Those of you out there with a lot of classic customizations, I feel your pain. I created classic customizations constantly, for years, adding new features to make life just that much easier for my users. Now all of that has to be done again, with a new, less familiar interface. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Anyone who has seen the improvements in the Kinetic Browser user experience in the last 3 major releases (2023.1, 2023.2, 2024.1) has seen how the experience has improved by leaps and bounds in just the last year and a half. With another 18 months, I do think that the browser will be fully Ready For Primetime. Make sure you keep the EpiUsers forum in your bookmarks and keep EpicCare support on speed-dial, and everything will be okay. And if you need some extra help with your Kinetic Browser uplift, you know where to find me.
--Kevin Veldman, 2024/11/13
Feature Sunset Announcement:Epicor Smart Client