Microsoft discontinuing Cortana on Android and iOS in some countries

Written 7 months ago by IanDorfman

The personal digital assistant competition is shifting yet again, though not with a new competitor. Microsoft has announced that Cortana, its answer to the likes of Small Siri iconSiri and Small Google Assistant iconGoogle Assistant, will no longer be available as a separate app for Small Android iconAndroid, Small iOS iconiOS, or the Small Microsoft Launcher iconMicrosoft Launcher.

This does not mean that Cortana is going away, however. Microsoft also announced that the digital assistant will be integrated into Small Microsoft Office Outlook iconMicrosoft Office Outlook and other Small Microsoft 365 iconMicrosoft 365 software. The reasoning given is to ensure that Cortana is "as helpful as possible," with the support article going as far as to call the integration an "evolution."

As a part of this change, any user created reminders, tasks, and other information will not be available via Small Cortana iconCortana or the Microsoft Launcher. Instead, lists, reminders, and tasks will automatically be synchronized to the free Small Microsoft To Do iconMicrosoft To Do app available via Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and the web.

So far, the announcement of this Cortana dedicated app discontinuation and Microsoft 365 integration has only been made for the following countries:
Australia
Canada
China
Germany
India
Mexico
Spain
United Kingdom

For those countries, Cortana will no longer be available on the Small Apple App Store iconApple App Store, the Small Google Play Store iconGoogle Play Store, or any future version of the Microsoft Launcher after January 31st, 2020.

Further coverage:
Microsoft support article
MSPoweruser
Windows Central
The Verge