Microsoft updates Cortana for iOS with fresh new look

The virtual assistant’s app gets a redesign to match its Android counterpart, writes Blair Hanley Frank M

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icrosoft has given its Cortana app for iOS a facelift. The app now features Quick Actions, so users can tap a couple buttons and get Cortana to create an alarm or set a reminder. That means users can get at key features without having to talk or type queries, and it also gives them a framework for what they can do with the app, without them having to discover it on their own.

The virtual assistant market is a crowded one, between Cortana, Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant all competing for users’ time. Microsoft’s assistant is built into PCs with Windows 10, but the company also needs to keep its apps for other mobile platforms up to date in order to meet users where they are.

In addition, the app’s phone call and messaging functionality got a facelift, so users who want to text using Cortana in a move that makes it even more competitive with Apple’s Siri.

Cortana’s messaging and calling capabilities got a redesign as well. When users ask it to make a call, the app will fire up the iPhone’s dialler. Sending a message pulls up a view of the built-in messaging app.