Microsoft’s Cortana Makes it’s Official Debut on iOS & Android

On Wednesday Microsoft officially introduced an individual version of its assistant Cortana on iOS and Android. However a beta version was already available on Android, this shows that for the first time Microsoft has made Cortana extensively available on both platforms.

Microsoft’s Cortana Makes it’s Official Debut on iOS & Android

To be precise a Windows 10 PC is not required to take benefit of the Cortana app, but Microsoft states its assistant apps work great when used with Cortana’s desktop equivalent. When both are used together, the impression is somewhat like Apple’s Continuity features, which make it easy to shift between tasks on different iOS and OS X devices. While using the Cortana app you can set a location-based prompt on your PC and it will appear on your phone when you reach at the identified location. You can also view and reply to missed calls from Cortana-enabled PC.

The Cortana app does not connect to other Microsoft facilities on your smartphone such as you can not use Cortana to send an email from Outlook on your iPhone. Marcus Ash, Microsoft’s Group Program Manager of Cortana, says they are seeing ways to make better connections among apps.

“It’s a bit of a learning process for us right now in terms of what can we do based on the restrictions that the platform might have in place.”

Ash told Mashable.

“Even just building the idea that I can do something on my PC and have a continuation on my phone, we think is going to be powerful and some thing we’re going to spend a bunch of time on.”

As the app is not a basic part of the operating systems the way Apple and Google’s built-in assistants are, it is obvious that Cortana on iOS and Android will never be as commanding as it is on Windows devices. However, Microsoft is also going to introduce a more powerful version of Cortana to a new operating system: Cyanogen OS, a substitute version of Android.

The two companies are collaborating to integrate Cortana in at a system level to the OnePlus One, which runs Cyanogen. As soon as the update goes live which is anticipated later this month, OnePlus One users will be allowed to raise the “Hey Cortana,” command and use the assistant to amend system settings like varying network modes, activating quiet mode and turning off a device.

Microsoft reveals that in the future it plans to make Cortana accessible to more Cyanogen devices, however the OnePlus One will be the first Cyanogen OS device to get the Cortana incorporation.