Last weeks a news report that Microsoft is considering to remove Cortana services from various platforms like Android and iOS. Now, Microsoft has officially announced that it will remove the Cortana app on iOS and Android, including Cortana inside the Microsoft Launcher, from early next year in certain markets. So, No Cortana support for Microsoft Launcher as well.
Microsoft released a support article for this confirmation. According to this support article, Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana will no longer be functional on mobile devices after January 31, 2020. This will be the last day on mobile devices, because from this day Microsoft will release an update for Microsoft Launcher to completely remove Cortana.
However, Microsoft hasn’t confirmed the regions for which it is bringing these changes. However, the support document was found on Microsoft Canada, Microsoft UK, and Microsoft Australia’s website. It is still not confirmed whether or not the Cortana app will be available in the US.
According to the reports, Cortana will integrate with the Microsoft 365 productivity app. Microsoft said it is removing Cortana because it has been integrated into the Office 365 productivity app, but it’s unclear whether Cortana will be a feature of all Microsoft 365 apps, but Microsoft’s attitude toward Cortana will be very interesting in the future.
Microsoft says that Cortana on Windows 10 will remain functional. It will be removed only from Android and iOS mobile platforms. That makes sense, as Microsoft is currently in the middle of building out a brand new Cortana experience for Windows 10 with the 20H1 release expected in the spring of 2020.
