What you need to know
- Microsoft is set to drop Cortana support in Microsoft Launcher for Android.
- The company says support will go away "by the end of April."
- This is part of a larger set of changes coming to Cortana across all platforms.
Microsoft announced today that Cortana services will soon be dropped from Microsoft Launcher for Android. Microsoft plans to discontinue Cortana services in Microsoft Launcher by the end of April. The company outline the move in a blog post about some larger changes coming to Cortana.
This move is part of a larger shift in Microsoft's Cortana strategy. Rather than being an assistant across devices, Microsoft is focusing the AI backbone of Cortana towards making people more productive. "This next step in Cortana's evolution will bring enhanced, seamless personal productivity assistance as a free update to the latest version of Windows 10 coming this spring," Microsoft said in today's blog post.
There are further casualties as part of this process, beyond Cortana in Microsoft Launcher. Microsoft also announced that it is dropping Cortana support in versions of Windows 10 that have reached their end-of-service dates, including Windows 10 Mobile. Further, Cortana skills are being dropped entirely.
