Microsoft’s answer to the Google Assistant, Alexa and company – Cortana – has been available on Android devices for a while. On Monday, the Redmond-based company announced the additional of new feature and improvements for Cortana on Android – many of which have been expressly requested by users.
Previously in order to have access to Cortana, users would have had to swipe up to pull up info stored in Cortana from the lock screen, but that was that. You couldn’t have interacted with it. That changes today via a helpful update which lets users talk to Cortana directly from the phone’s lock screen.
So from now on, users will be able to ask Cortana questions, set a reminder and more without having to unlock their Android device to do so. On top of that, Microsoft has also made a few updates to the default Cortana home screen, so users can easily see information like weather, upcoming calendar events or commute information – at a glance.
Other new features include buttons that allow users to create Reminders and Lists from Cortana home and improved reminder experience and location triggering.
Microsoft is also taking the opportunity to announce the Cortana app for iOS and Android is now available in Australia with for the first time.
Cortana for Android is available for download from the Google Play Store in select markets.
