Tech giant Microsoft said that it is discontinuing its Cortana mobile application for Android and iOS in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China, Spain, Mexico and India. The company said that it will shut down the virtual assistant app in these countries from January 31, 2020. However, for those living in the United States, the app will continue to function in both iOS and Android.
Microsoft also posted a support page on its website where it stated that Cortana would be integrated into Microsoft 365. "To make Cortana as helpful as possible, we're integrating Cortana deeper into your Microsoft 365 productivity apps, and part of this evolution involves ending support for the Cortana mobile app on Android and iOS", it said.
In its post, the tech giant said that the content created on Cortana, such as reminders and lists, will no longer be will be functional on the app from January 31 next year. However, Cortana will be available on the Windows 10 PCs. All the reminders and lists will be automatically synced to the Microsoft To Do App, which can be freely downloaded on one's smartphone.
The virtual assistant created by Microsoft for Windows 10, Windows 10 mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Invoke Smart Speaker, Microsoft Band, Surface Speakers, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Windows Mixed Reality and Amazon Alexa, have been in the news for a long time. There were a lot of speculations over the past few months regarding whether Microsoft will pull out Cortana.
Developed in 2015, Microsoft Cortana was initially considered as a stiff competitor to Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri. However, after the initial popularity, the app faded down and failed to compete with other digital assistants. Earlier in March, Microsoft discontinued the Cortana application from Skype and started promoting its new integration with Alexa. Even after its being shut down, Cortana is still very popular in North America.
