Microsoft’s is bringing Cortana to your Android's lockscreen

Back in December Microsoft overhauled the user interface of Cortana on Android, along with iOS - bringing a much cleaner and prettier user design. Now with the overhaul finished, Microsoft has another plan for the Android edition of Cortana. If you decide to become a beta tester for the app now (assuming you are already not), Microsoft is testing bringing the virtual assistant onto your lock screen via its beta channel. This new feature that’s clearly designed to replace Google’s own quick access, and to convince Android users to switch to Cortana, because it doesn’t replace existing lock screens....yet!

Once you install the new update and open Cortana, it’ll ask you to enable “Cortana on lock screen”. Answering that affirmatively will result in a Cortana logo always showing up near the bottom of your (otherwise untouched) lock screen. Now you can swipe the logo left or right to open up the Cortana panel — similar to how the camera shortcut works on most Android devices. Cortana on the lock screen doesn’t ask for your PIN before opening up, which means anyone with physical access to your device will be able to access Cortana, which could be a problematic with your personal security. Microsoft will presumably add the ability to hide sensitive information from Cortana on the lock screen, and we’ll make sure to let you know if and when that happens.



Here is the Google Play link of Cortana and Beta sign up can be done from here.