Cortana for iOS

Cortana for iOS provides intelligent voice assistance and up-to-the-minute news and weather.

Pros

Works across your PC and iPhone: Set a reminder in Cortana on your Windows 10 PC, and Cortana will later remind you of it on your iPhone.

Reminders: In testing, Cortana's Reminders function worked very well. Each time we asked Cortana to create a reminder, it was done to our satisfaction.

Local news, top news, and current weather: Launch Cortana for iOS and you'll discover local and global news articles as well as local weather on the homepage.

Privacy focused: Modify what Cortana remembers in the Notebook section (where Cortana stores what you tell it about yourself and what you'd like done) or in the cloud. You can clear your voice data to reset the identifying codes on your device tied to your voice. You can also disable Cortana on your iPhone at any time by signing out.

Cons

Slow and unreliable: When testing Cortana on iOS, we experienced major connection issues, even at full Wi-Fi connectivity. When we were connected, we had only a 50-50 chance of getting our questions answered properly anyway. When we posed the same questions to Siri, Apple's native intelligent voice assistant app, we fared far better.

A lot of info needed: To use Cortana, Microsoft requires your location, location history, contacts, voice input, search history, calendar details, and other info. If you use the app on more than one device, shared info will be synced across devices to improve reminders and suggestions. Fortunately, you may modify or clear much of this data.

Microsoft account required: To use Cortana, you must register for a Microsoft account. At least the process doesn't take very long.

Bottom Line

Cortana for iOS did not perform as well as Siri in our tests, so we see no need to replace our native personal assistant for Microsoft's.

More Resources

Cortana for Android

Guided by voices: Siri vs. Google Now vs. Cortana

• We improved the user experience so Reminders are easier for you to create and manage.
• Fixed internet connection issue for iOS 9 devices