14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced that its own digital assistant Cortana can be installed on Apple’s iPad as well, after the application was previously released for the iPhone last year.
As teased a couple of weeks ago, the iPad version of Cortana is now published on the App Store with an interface and layout that are specifically optimized for the tablet. This means the application can benefit from the added screen space and display results and interactions in a more effective manner.
In the official release notes of version 2.6.8, Microsoft also claims that Cortana is now 20 percent fasten when it comes to launching, though the same thing has been included in the change log of the previous release as well.
Cortana on iOS
Microsoft’s Cortana brings on iOS nearly the same features as all the other digital assistants, though it goes without saying that it lacks the native integration of Siri.
This means that you need to have the app running to be able to interact with Cortana, and some functionality is missing, such as having the assistant respond to your commands when devices are locked.
These are restrictions that Microsoft can’t deal with given Apple’s walled garden, but on the other hand, the company hopes that users who are committed to its own app ecosystem would stick with its personal assistant as well.
On iOS, Cortana also features support for the iPhone X and it perfectly adapts to its screen ratio and the highly controversial design with a notch at the top of the display. It can be installed on all iPhone and iPad models running iOS 9 or later, but for the time being, it only supports English.
It remains to be seen how many iPad users will replace Siri with Cortana, but there’s a good chance many Microsoft users will at least give it a try to see how it works.