Microsoft’s Next Lock Screen for Android Receives a Major Update

Microsoft alerted me this morning to a major update to its Next Lock Screen for Android that adds a new apps launchpad, significant battery and performance improvements, and other new features.

As you may recall, I’m a big fan of Next Lock Screen, which provides a more useful and usable lock screen experience than the stock Android version. As Microsoft says, Next Lock Screen lets you see what’s next at a glance and quickly access your most-used apps … right from the lock screen.

With this week’s update, Next Lock Screen hits version 3.2 and adds the following changes:

New logo. Next Lock Screen has a simpler new logo, which you can see on the app icon.

New apps Launchpad. This launchpad obviously displays newly-installed apps and provides auto-suggestions based on location.

Improved weather. The weather feature has been enhanced to provide greater accuracy.

Improved security. The Forgot Password feature has been updated.

Screen timeout. Now you can configure the screen timeout on the lock screen independently of your system settings.

Battery life and performance. The app now provides significant battery and performance improvements, Microsoft says.

Improved language support. Next Lock Screen now supports 4 languages—English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese—and Microsoft says that 5 more languages—Russian, German, Turkish, Italian, and French—are on the way.

I just installed Next Lock Screen on my Nexus 6P. Looks great. You can find the app—it’s free—at the Google Play Store.