Microsoft’s Cortana Will Come To IOS And Android Phones

Microsoft’s digital personal assistant Cortana is no longer confined to Windows platform. Termed one of the best features of Windows 10, Cortana has now arrived on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems.

Microsoft announced in a blog post, “Today, we’re excited to announce that Cortana is available on select iPhone, Android and Cyanogen OS powered devices as a great companion experience to your Windows 10 PC.” As of now, Cortana is available in the US & China regions only, for iPhones on iOS8 and up, and Android 4.1.2.

The company claimed that the all-new Cortana app “…comes with the same intelligence as Cortana on your PC, with the ability to look up information and give helpful suggestions. The information stored in Cortana’s Notebook on your PC such as interests, weather and more, will travel with you across devices and any changes you make on one will be reflected on your other devices.”

However, there are few features that Cortana can do on Windows phones but are currently not possible with iOS or Android. These include toggling settings or opening apps, and the ability to invoke Cortana hands-free by saying “Hey Cortana.”

Cortana made its debut as the personal assistant for Windows Phone with Windows Phone 8.1 update.

The software giant rolled out Cortana as part of first major update to its Windows 10 operating system in November in India. Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, Cortana is now customized to reflect the local accent, idioms and speech patterns of India.