Cortana as a standalone assistant
Microsoft launched Cortana as Windows Phone's answer to Siri, placed her across Windows and rival phones, then retired the standalone voice assistant for Copilot-era tools.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
The formally released consumer voice assistant and standalone Cortana application from Microsoft.
Cortana answered questions, set reminders, managed calendars and performed device tasks through voice and text.
Existence timeline
Cortana enters public beta on Microsoft's mobile platform.
The assistant reaches hundreds of millions of PCs.
Android and iOS versions broaden access.
Mobile apps, speaker support and many skills are retired.
Microsoft points users toward newer AI tools.
Cortana no longer functions as a normal Windows assistant.
Why it ended
Microsoft progressively removed consumer platforms and retired the standalone Windows app in 2023 while retaining a few differently scoped enterprise features temporarily.
Last confirmed trace
Support pages, recordings, application packages and the Halo character that supplied the name preserve its public identity.
What it left behind
Cortana charts Microsoft's transition from mobile voice agents to generative-AI assistants branded around Copilot.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.