Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Microsoft Shutting Down Cortana App for iOS and Android
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Articles like this remind me of why I'm glad my HTC Thunderbolt uses offline voice commands.
I've always hoped that assistants would fix the one thing I hated most about touchscreens--the fingerprint smears (and looking through them!) and features such as 'driving mode' on the Galaxy S4 were quite handy. But they all depend on a stable internet or mobile data connection and I find myself in many places where signal just doesn't exist (or is still 2G, Edge, 1x, or 'no service') so the voice assistants cease being useful. I mean, they were fun for a time; I was living the Star Trek dream for a bit. But the novelty wore off eventually.
I only use voice control today for a handful of stuff. Making calls, controlling music, and dictating texts. Can do it all offline on my phone. No way anyone can kill it if it's not in the 'cloud'. Most of the time it's just faster to arrange your home screen where everything you need is one tap away, or a swipe and tap.
Cortana is disabled on Windows 10 in my home. It's not easy to do, but it is doable. Has anyone actually had Cortana get triggered by a Youtube video? Also the amount of RAM and CPU dedicated to it. Has anyone running Windows even looked at the task manager?
I've always hoped that assistants would fix the one thing I hated most about touchscreens--the fingerprint smears (and looking through them!) and features such as 'driving mode' on the Galaxy S4 were quite handy. But they all depend on a stable internet or mobile data connection and I find myself in many places where signal just doesn't exist (or is still 2G, Edge, 1x, or 'no service') so the voice assistants cease being useful. I mean, they were fun for a time; I was living the Star Trek dream for a bit. But the novelty wore off eventually.
I only use voice control today for a handful of stuff. Making calls, controlling music, and dictating texts. Can do it all offline on my phone. No way anyone can kill it if it's not in the 'cloud'. Most of the time it's just faster to arrange your home screen where everything you need is one tap away, or a swipe and tap.
Cortana is disabled on Windows 10 in my home. It's not easy to do, but it is doable. Has anyone actually had Cortana get triggered by a Youtube video? Also the amount of RAM and CPU dedicated to it. Has anyone running Windows even looked at the task manager?
Siri needs to either put up or shut up. So far behind the others. Except Cortana of course
Sad. Cortana, at least on Windows Phone was pretty awesome and useful. Definitely more personality than Siri or Google whatever. Of course the current CEO hadn’t helped anything.
You might try going to the redemption site and entering the MAC address and see what happens, if you haven’t already. It‘s super easy and the worst thing that happens is they reject your claim. I have a pair of Surface headphones and have never used Cortana on those but received a $25 credit regardless. I can’t believe MS is shutting down Cortana on those as well.
Cortana is no longer responding on my Invokes, but Spotify still streams through them. I was able to pair a BT device with the button on the back rather than voice commands. Invoke users better get used to it.
What does
mean in English? Are they terminating Cortana to shift focus into using AI in Office 365? (If so, it could be interesting, I suppose, depending on what they do and how they do it.) I seriously can’t cut through the PR talk here, though.
Shifting focus on AI in Office? Let's hope it's not Clippy v. 2.0!
Cortana's been killed on my gaming system. You'd be amazed how much CPU % and Memory utilization it used!
Simply take ownership of Windows\system32 and delete 'cortana.exe' after killing the process in task manager--have to be fast because it respawns in seconds.
Cortana's been killed on my gaming system. You'd be amazed how much CPU % and Memory utilization it used!
Simply take ownership of Windows\system32 and delete 'cortana.exe' after killing the process in task manager--have to be fast because it respawns in seconds.
I think it means the functionality of Cortana will be distributed across the ecosystem instead of being centralised in "Cortana".
I've used Cortana a few times today - weather, meeting reminders, etc. I've even used it for dictation as an experiment. But generally I just use my android phone for voice activated stuff. It does everything I need with little hassle.
[automerge]1596578004[/automerge]
Good tip if I want to squeeze more performance out of my PC!
I can say the same about Siri, Alexa, the offline voice actions on my HTC, the works.
I'm sure there are use cases for any assistant.
Sure. The person I replied to asked if Windows users even use Cortana. They are all handy for at least something minor at some point.
I use Cortana on my PC about as much as Siri on my mac, which is not much and for very little (weather, etc). If google voice was released on desktop I would stop using Cortana and Siri in a heartbeat.
I wish Siri would go away on its own after I've asked it something on the Mac (such as dimming the screen, or turning the volume down, etc) instead of just sitting there annoying me. Even Cortana goes away when you're done.
Microsoft today announced plans to "shift toward a transformational AI-powered assistant experience" in its Microsoft 365 apps, which will involve refocusing its "areas of innovation and development."
As a result, Microsoft is ending all support for third-party Cortana skills and eliminating the Cortana apps for iOS and Android devices. Third-party Cortana skills will be deprecated on September 7, while the iOS and Android apps will stop being supported in early 2021.
Microsoft says that the Cortana Windows 10 experience, Cortana integration in Outlook mobile, and upcoming Cortana voice assistance in the Teams mobile app can be used to do things like manage calendar and email and join meetings.
Microsoft also plans to end support for the Cortana integration in the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker in January 2021. Speaker owners who used Cortana are eligible for a $50 Microsoft gift card as compensation.
Article Link: Microsoft Shutting Down Cortana App for iOS and Android
Microsoft moved/removed the support page for the Harmon Kardon Invoke but you can still find the info here.
https://support.harmankardon.com/us/en/howto/invoke-faq
You can also still claim the $50 gift card.
If anyone still has a functional Invoke be very careful about resetting it.
The pairing button is not operational until the Invoke has been setup so you can't even use it as a bluetooth speaker if it loses its setup. It also won't be able to receive the firmware update that Microsoft is supposed to provide next year.
My coworker reset mine and I was not able to complete the setup again using my iOS 14 iPhone nor my Windows 10 laptop. An iOS 9 iPad mini also failed. Searching the web shows that this is not an isolated incident.
Microsoft said that the service and the Cortana app would remain operational until 2021 so my first thought was that they pulled the plug a little early and there are threads out there on Microsoft forums saying the same but I was finally able to complete the setup using an iOS 12 iPhone 6. Others claim to have had luck using an iPhone 5 or an Android phone.
I was able to semi-succeed with that same iPhone 6 without even using the Cortana app.
Reset the Invoke until you get the white animated lights on top like you were going to use the Cortana app.
Go into your WiFi settings on the iPhone and you should see the Invoke device with an option to connect your accessory to your network.
When you proceed through the steps you'll eventually see the message waiting for Invoke.
The lights on the Invoke will eventually change to a white pulsing donut.
The iPhone will say that the setup failed but it doesn't matter because as soon as the lights change on the Invoke, the bluetooth pairing button on the Invoke will become operational and you can then pair the Invoke as you would any other bluetooth speaker.
For all I know, this method of bypassing the Cortana app will work on other newer iPhones.
The pairing button is not operational until the Invoke has been setup so you can't even use it as a bluetooth speaker if it loses its setup. It also won't be able to receive the firmware update that Microsoft is supposed to provide next year.
My coworker reset mine and I was not able to complete the setup again using my iOS 14 iPhone nor my Windows 10 laptop. An iOS 9 iPad mini also failed. Searching the web shows that this is not an isolated incident.
Microsoft said that the service and the Cortana app would remain operational until 2021 so my first thought was that they pulled the plug a little early and there are threads out there on Microsoft forums saying the same but I was finally able to complete the setup using an iOS 12 iPhone 6. Others claim to have had luck using an iPhone 5 or an Android phone.
I was able to semi-succeed with that same iPhone 6 without even using the Cortana app.
Reset the Invoke until you get the white animated lights on top like you were going to use the Cortana app.
Go into your WiFi settings on the iPhone and you should see the Invoke device with an option to connect your accessory to your network.
When you proceed through the steps you'll eventually see the message waiting for Invoke.
The lights on the Invoke will eventually change to a white pulsing donut.
The iPhone will say that the setup failed but it doesn't matter because as soon as the lights change on the Invoke, the bluetooth pairing button on the Invoke will become operational and you can then pair the Invoke as you would any other bluetooth speaker.
For all I know, this method of bypassing the Cortana app will work on other newer iPhones.
Last edited: