Based on the popular AI character from the Halo franchise, Cortana has been a kind of runner-up in the field of voice-activated artificial intelligence, competing with the likes of Apple's Siri, Amazon's Echo devices, and Google Assistant. Introduced to PCs in 2014, Microsoft have tried to implement the system on numerous devices since, including iOS and Android, introduced in 2019. Now it appears as though the company has switched Cortana off for mobile devices.

In a recent post to its support page, Microsoft announced it would be turning Cortana off for iOS and Android devices as of the end of March 2021. This means by the time people read this article, it will no longer be available for the aforementioned operating systems.

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The tech giants also said that any content created through Cortana, such as reminders or to-do lists, will "no longer function" in the mobile app. However, such functions will still be available in the Windows version of Cortana. The company went on to say that reminders, tasks and lists will be automatically synced to the Microsoft To Do app, which can still be used on phones for free.

This is also not the first device Cortana has been removed from. Back in 2019, Microsoft removed the voice-activated AI from its Xbox One user interface when it updated the system to simplify access. AI assistants have become an important part of modern living, even with privacy concerns being raised, so Microsoft removing Cortana from iOS and Android does seem a bit of a mystery, but for now it's still an integral function on Windows machines.

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Source: Microsoft Support