Microsoft is killing its dedicated Cortana voice assistant app for Android and iOS

Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are by far the two biggest voice assistant platforms, but there are plenty of other options out there, including Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Cortana used to be limited to Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system and Microsoft’s ecosystem in general, but back in late 2015, the company released apps on iOS and Android to try to catch up with the big two. It looks like Microsoft has decided there’s no longer any point in offering a dedicated Cortana mobile app, however, as they’ve decided to discontinue the app in most markets early next year.

Microsoft has confirmed they will pull support for Cortana on third-party platforms like Android and iOS on January 31st, 2020, as part of a series of changes to Cortana-related services. After this date, the app will disappear from app stores in the UK, Australia, Germany, Mexico, China, Spain, Canada, and India. Although the app will continue to work for users in the US for an undetermined amount of time after January 31st, 2020, Microsoft will no longer support the app after this date. Furthermore, an update to the Microsoft Launcher app on Android—which also had Cortana integration—will remove Cortana. Microsoft says they aren’t planning on completely killing Cortana, however, as it will be integrated with the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity apps (such as Outlook). and Windows 10 will still keep it as its voice assistant.

If you use Cortana for syncing things like reminders and lists with your Windows 10 PC, you’ll still be able to do so with the Microsoft To Do app which is available for free on Google Play. Else, most of your voice assistant needs can probably be fulfilled by Google Assistant, a platform that Google is completely committed to and keeps updating to get smarter by the day.

Microsoft To Do: List, Task & Reminder (Free, Google Play) →

Microsoft Cortana – Digital assistant (Free, Google Play) →

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Source 1: Microsoft Support / Source 2: The Verge

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