GTrusted

Cortana comes standard on Windows PC's but after Microsoft's ill-fated attempts with Microsoft Lumia phones, Microsoft had to come up with a new strategy for getting a foothold into mobile phones dominated by Apple and Google's Android platforms.

Microsoft has several Apps that now work across different phone platforms like the Microsoft Edge browser and Microsoft OneNote for making and sharing notes.  

Now that Apple has switched from using Bing to Google as the main default search engine used by Siri, it's even more important for Microsoft to have Cortana available on the iPhone to direct traffic to its Bing search engine. Most iPhone users probably prefer Siri but in case you get tired of Siri's responses, you can also download Cortana from the Apple App Store.

Here we downloaded Cortana onto the iPhone X. You will need to log in with your Microsoft account to use Cortana.

  

To make full use of Cortana's help as an assistant, you will need to allow it access your location, calendar, microphone, etc.

  

Unlike Siri, you can't just call "Hey Cortana" on your iPhone. Instead you will need to press the microphone icon on the bottom right in order to get it to start listening to your command or question.

  

Like using Cortana on other devices, you can change your Cortana settings and select what music and connected home services you want to use with it.

  

To further invade smartphones, Microsoft also has been aggressively promoting Microsoft Launcher to more seamlessly link your Android phone to your Windows PC but as of late 2017, Microsoft Launcher was not yet available on the iPhone.