Visual Search and Microsoft Rewards now included

May 22, 2018 08:25 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just published a new beta version of Launcher for Android and the release includes several new major features, including what’s being called Visual Search.

Microsoft Launcher 4.10 beta allows users to search using only the phone cameras. What you need to do is tap the camera icon in the Launcher search bar to capture a photo and then easily get information on celebrities, landmarks, or many other items, all automatically and within just a few seconds.

This feature won’t work offline, and it requires camera permissions for the Launcher, which are necessary anyway in order to enjoy full functionality.

Additionally, this update introduces Microsoft Family, a parental control tool that enables parents to view the last known location and activity reports for their children. As we announced earlier this week, this feature requires more complex configuration to set up both the parents and children accounts, and Microsoft now says that the information can be viewed across Android, Windows PCs, and Xbox console.

Microsoft Rewards in Microsoft Launcher

This new version also comes with support for Microsoft Rewards, but only limited to the United States. “Now Microsoft Rewards customers can see their Rewards balance in the Launcher Feed and earn points for using Bing Search through Microsoft Launcher,” the software giant explains.

There are also some unnamed improvements for the wallpaper, as well as user experience refinements, like support for deleting documents through the Documents card, welcome animation enhancements, and other tweaks to the folder naming experience.

Keep in mind that all these updates are currently part of the beta program, and installing this version comes with the risk of hitting other bugs and issues. If you don’t mind some features not working exactly as expected all the time, you can go ahead and download the Microsoft Launcher beta APK from Softpedia using this link to try it out on your device as well.