Microsoft to discontinue Cortana on Android and iOS

An updated support document from the personal assistant Cortana brought information that the program will end in mobile applications. The changes are coming to the United States market, since its operation in mobile device applications had already ended in other countries. According to Microsoft, there is an adjustment in the “areas of focus of innovation and development to offer customers assistance where they need it most”.

This means that Cortana will be reused as a productivity assistant, as already announced by the company earlier this year. The document notes that the company will end support for Cortana in third-party applications as early as September. The Cortana app for Android and iOS will no longer be supported in the US as of the beginning of 2021.

The company cites the integration of the digital assistant in applications such as Outlook and Teams as viable alternatives, as these services allow users to perform tasks "focused on productivity", such as managing calendars and meetings. Microsoft also suggests that users take advantage of the productivity features in the Cortana app on Windows 10.

The company will also end support for the assistant's integration with the Harmon Kardon Invoke smart speaker. The speakers will receive a firmware update to work with Bluetooth, ensuring that users can still use the device without Cortana. In addition, Microsoft will give speaker owners a $ 50 gift card.

Cortana will also be removed from first-generation Surface Headphones starting in January 2021. Users of both generations of the device and Surface Earbuds will still be able to use the wizard's features in Outlook for productivity-related tasks. Affected customers will receive a $ 25 gift card.

It is speculated that Cortana was "blacked out" due to competition with other assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Microsoft says it "spent a lot of time thinking about this Cortana [role] transition."