Microsoft Ends Support for Its Cortana Voice Assistant on iOS and Android

by Kay Lee

The American corporation Microsoft announced the termination of support for the Cortana voice assistant on mobile devices running iOS and Android starting March 31. It has been in operation for five years. Cortana will remain available on Windows and Microsoft enterprise apps.

As explained on Microsoft's support page, the mobile app is no longer supported as of April, and reminders and lists are no longer available in the app, although they can still be accessed through Cortana on Windows.

Cortana's reminders, lists, and tasks also sync automatically with Microsoft To Do, a free download to your phone. The Cortana app has already been removed from the App Store and Google Play Store.

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Recall that following Google and Amazon, Microsoft has developed its own voice assistant and first launched an application for iOS and Android in December 2015. It was designed for computers running the Windows operating system, and later for Android and iOS. But it never became popular despite the redesign.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged the company's difficulties in competing with other digital assistants several years ago. He said Microsoft no longer views Cortana as a competitor to Alexa and Google Assistant.

In 2019, it was reported that Microsoft employees or contractors could secretly listen to audio recordings, including personal ones, made through the Cortana and Skype Translator services.

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In the future, Microsoft will focus on productivity features that repurpose Cortana and make the assistant part of the Microsoft 365 suite. By offering a less rich set of features, Microsoft hopes to create a product that can better complement existing software. However, it will not directly compete with established players such as Google and Amazon.