Microsoft has recently been doing quite a lot in order to improve both the Android user base and general experience of its intelligent virtual assistant Cortana. Shortly after releasing an update which enables Cortana to track notifications on multiple Android devices, the company has also extended the support of the Microsoft Band version of Cortana to Android devices.
The Microsoft Band smartwatch and fitness tracker originally launched in late 2014 with native Cortana support. The wearable was succeeded by the significantly improved Microsoft Band 2 in October of last year but up until now, the Cortana versions on both gadgets were only able to communicate with Windows Phone devices. Well, that’s officially in the past as of a few days ago as the latest Microsoft Health app update on the Play Store reveals that all of its Cortana-related functionality is now also available on Android smartphones. For the uninitiated, Microsoft Health is an activity-tracking piece of mobile software specifically designed for usage and syncing with Microsoft Band wearables. Naturally, the fact that the latest version of this app adds Cortana integration for Android users also means you’ll need Cortana installed on your phone in order to take advantage of this newly added support.
As for what that integration actually means, Microsoft revealed that Band users with Android phones will now be able to utilize pretty much all of the usual Cortana features in order to communicate with their Android phones. That includes but isn’t limited to regular stuff like receiving notifications, replying to text messages, and giving out voice commands. Unfortunately, the Cortana integration for Android is currently only available in the United States, though it’s expected that Microsoft will soon roll out support for other territories which already have their own version of Cortana.
In case you’re interested in giving Microsoft Band Cortana integration for Android devices a go, you can do that by installing the Microsoft Health app from the Google Play Store Of course, make sure you also have the latest version of Cortana installed on your mobile device of choice. It’s also worth noting that this update doesn’t mark the debut of Microsoft Band 2 support for Android devices and only adds Cortana-related features to the app as the said wearable was released as a cross-platform device already.