Side Loading Cortana on Android via Microsoft Apps app by accident

I wasn’t sure how to categorize this so I am putting this in general.

Playing around today with my android phone I managed to install the Cortana for Android app. I live in Canada so Cortana for Android is not available to me but while browsing through the Microsoft Apps app I selected install on the Cortana app under the all apps listing. Now usually (as well as since then as I have been unable to reproduce this result) when you select the app or the install button it takes you to the play store where in the case of the Cortana app you are notified it is unavailable in my region. But this time the app started to download and install, I was prompted to allow installation from unknown sources and once I did this the install completed.

I’ve since set up notification sync and played around a little more with it but so far Cortana seems to be working on my phone.

My questions is this a glitch in the Microsoft Apps android app allowing you to side load the app, has anyone else been able to do this?

 

Finley

Conversation 5 comments

  • 8706

    26 November, 2016 - 2:00 am

    <p>Thank you! I live in Australia and just used the same method to install it. Much easier than sideloading it manually and hopefully trustworthy.</p>
    <p>I wonder if updates will flow through this way too?</p>

    • 1080

      Premium Member
      26 November, 2016 - 10:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#27359">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/KamalM">KamalM</a><a href="#27359">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I don’t think so. The US app store has the latest version at 1.9.12 where as my version is 1.9.7</p>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • colmob

    Premium Member
    09 September, 2017 - 1:15 am

    <p>I just tried this and it no longer works. How long does it take for Microsoft to localize this anyway?</p>

    • Finley

      Premium Member
      09 September, 2017 - 9:02 am

      <blockquote><a href="#175080"><em>In reply to colmob:</em></a></blockquote><p>I doubt they ever will go beyond making Cortana available outside the markets it currently is now.</p><p>If Microsoft was a person they would the kind who took all the groceries in from the car but decided to leave them on the counter to rot.</p>

      • colmob

        Premium Member
        09 November, 2017 - 2:19 am

        <blockquote><a href="#175105"><em>In reply to Finley:</em></a></blockquote><p>It's very strange how they keep making things which are quite good, and then not going the distance with them. I've since downloaded an .apk file of Cortana and it works fine. Pointless that I have to go through this.</p>

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