Cortana Gets Big Redesign on the iPhone and Android

Last month, Microsoft started testing a major new design for Cortana on mobile devices. The company has now started rolling out the update to everyone on iOS and Android, just in time for the release of the Surface Headphones.

The updated Cortana design has to be one of the best things to happen to the personal assistant for a long time. It often feels like Microsoft has been neglecting the personal assistant for a while, with the new design landing just a week after the head of Cortana left Microsoft.

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Cortana’s big redesign focuses on conversations. The app now features a conversational UI for when you interact with the assistant, letting you have a continuous conversation about a certain topic, for example. The new update also puts all Cortana Devices into a central place within the app, letting you control all different services for your devices as well as the settings easily.

The update brings a critical feature for Microsoft’s commercial customers, letting them join Skype or Teams call via Cortana. The update looks like a solid improvement to Cortana as a whole, and I really hope some of these design improvements carry over to Cortana on Windows 10.

You can get Cortana for Android here, and iOS here.

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Conversation 9 comments

  • Komosis

    Premium Member
    15 November, 2018 - 4:30 pm

    <p>A strange issue with Cortana 3. Although, he new design does look nice, I can no longer make a phone call via my Bluetooth headphones, unless the phone is unlocked. Not the end of the world, but I prefer making phone calls without pulling out my phone. Other than music, it is nearly the point of Bluetooth on phones.</p>

  • kevvan

    15 November, 2018 - 5:58 pm

    <p>One of the more useful features for me is the reminder when I get home feature. I appreciate a reminder to do something when it senses I am at the house. The reminder feature has been broken for me for a while, and the Cortana interfaces insist in getting in the way on app start up and I cannot access my reminders for a period of time. I do like the function of Cortana and here is to hoping that some of the warts are resolved with this update. Thanks for the article.</p>

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    15 November, 2018 - 7:05 pm

    <p>Cortana = Clippy 2.0</p>

  • BoItmanLives

    15 November, 2018 - 8:57 pm

    <p>Some interns in a numbered cubicle in the bowels of MS that are still putting these superfluous updates out because no one told them Cortana is dead.</p>

    • Rob_Wade

      16 November, 2018 - 2:01 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#368452"><em>In reply to BoItmanLives:</em></a><em> Well, not for me. I have Cortana turn on, full time, on all our devices. It angers me that Microsoft refuses to do what's necessary so that </em>Cortana can also be set to always-on with Android.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • robincapper

    15 November, 2018 - 9:28 pm

    <p>Why? Never had the option to use Cortana here, never probably will</p>

  • Daekar

    16 November, 2018 - 4:48 am

    <p>Holy Smokes, what an improvement! So much faster and more responsive, it's like a whole different assistant. Very impressive progress. </p>

  • RM

    16 November, 2018 - 9:17 am

    <p>Looks good after a brief look, but dark theme is sure a low priority for Microsoft, even though a lot (not all) like it.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    16 November, 2018 - 4:05 pm

    <p>To hell with the redesign, how about releasing the old version? I'm still waiting for it to be released over here!</p><p>We've had it on Windows since launch, but Android is still not available, because Microsoft don't have the backend servers! :-S</p>

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