Are you interested in installing Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, on your Android device? Although you won’t find Cortana in the Google Play Store, it’s still possible to download and use it on any Android device. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the relatively straightforward process of installing Cortana on your phone or tablet.
The first step is to enable your device for installation from a third-party source. To do this, go to your device’s settings, then to security, and scroll down until you see the “enable unknown sources” option. Tap on that and agree to Google’s disclaimer to begin the installation process.
Next, open Chrome and paste in the link for the Cortana download file provided in the description below. Your phone will open up a page in Google Drive, and all you need to do is select the download option and then tap “open in Chrome.” The Cortana installer takes only a few seconds to download. Once it’s done, tap on it in the notifications panel and select the package installer for the app you want to open it with.
At this point, your phone should open the first installation page for Cortana, where you can read through all the features and permissions that the app requires. If you’re okay with everything, scroll to the bottom and hit “install now.” Once your phone says the Cortana application has finished installing, you’re ready to open the app and begin setting it up.
When you first open Cortana, she’ll introduce herself. After that, you can read through a couple of things you can ask Cortana in the future. When you’re done reading, hit “next,” and you’ll have the option to select a name you’d like Cortana to call you in the future. You’ll also need to sign into a Microsoft account. If you’ve used a Windows computer before or have downloaded something from the Windows Store or Windows Phone Store, you already have one of these.
Now that Cortana is up and running on your phone, you can ask it a few questions to get an idea of its capabilities. Try asking about the time, weather, surfing conditions, or to wake you up in 20 minutes. Integration with your Android device is pretty good for a third-party virtual assistant, although the only slightly annoying thing is that you need to manually start the Cortana app every time you want to use it.
If you’re curious about how Cortana compares to Google Now, let us know in the comments below. Hopefully, this tutorial was helpful in getting Cortana set up on your Android device!