Microsoft shuts down Cortana mobile app for iOS and Android

Microsoft has shut down its Cortana app for Android and iOS. The programs and reminders for the app users will be open to users through Windows.

Cortana reminders, lists, and responsibilities are also automatically synced to the Microsoft To-Do app, available as a free download on iOS and Android for concerned users.

Launched first in November 2018, Microsoft told users about the app closing down in July 2020.

“As of March 31, 2021, the Cortana app content created by users, such as reminders and lists, will no longer useable in the Cortana mobile app but can still be accessed through Cortana in Windows.

Cortana reminders, lists, and responsibilities are automatically synced to the Microsoft To-Do app, which you can download to your phone for free,” the Microsoft- Cortana officials stated in a post.

Microsoft also discontinued attempting the standalone Cortana app in November 2019 in businesses other than the US, such as India, the UK, China, Spain, and Canada.

In January 2019, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that “Cortana wants to be that skill for anybody who’s a Microsoft 365 subscriber.”

During the publication of Cortana’s shutdown, Microsoft had remarked that it would be moving toward a transformational AI-powered assistant practice in its Microsoft 365 apps, which would mean refocusing its measures of innovation and development, MacRumours published. Since then, Microsoft has combined Cortana as part of Microsoft 365 software.

It continued Cortana to the Teams mobile app to do things like manage calendars, email, and join meetings. It also included personalized, actionable claims in Outlook for Exchange users.

Microsoft also stopped support for the Cortana combination in the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker in January 2021. The Harman Kardon Invoke was the only active speaker Cortana regularly supported in English.

It will prepare a firmware upgrade that will remove Cortana way but allow the device to connect via Bluetooth to mobile devices for audio playback, Voicebot reported.

Speaker owners who practiced Cortana can redeem a $50 Microsoft gift card up to July 31, 2021. Reports consider that it was the absence in charge for Cortana that caused Microsoft to shut it down.

It did not become as popular as Google assistant or Siri for Android and iOS and Amazon Alexa for device-independent alternatives.