Microsoft Launcher is an Android app that provides an altered home screen experience that empowers users to be "more productive."
Microsoft first unveiled its Launcher app in 2017 to enable users to bring the Microsoft interface to their Android phones' home screen experience. The app allows users to customize their Android phone, allowing them to organize what matters to them the most through things like personalized feed, Sticky Notes, and more.
And this time, this particular app finally gets its own generative AI makeover.
Initially launched in beta, the OpenAI's ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat is integrated right into the app's search bar.
Read: Microsoft Makes Its Bing Chatbot Available On Mobile, And Loosens The Restriction A Bit
What this means, users of the Launcher app on Android are no longer required to download and open the Bing app to start a conversation with Bing Chat.
All users need to do, is swipe down to access the Launcher's search functionality, where a Bing Chat icon can be interacted with.
Doing so will automatically open a Bing Chat interface on the website or the app.
The search bar has also been updated with Bing’s Chat and voice features, allowing users to chat with ChatGPT-powered Bing from anywhere, anytime.
Microsoft Launcher is one of the most popular launchers for Android, with over 50 million downloads. it's also known for its niche quality experience.
By putting Bing Chat to the launcher, it's certain that Microsoft aims to see a bump in the number of Bing Chat users.
Microsoft officials describe the update as a new way to bridge the gap between Bing Chat and Android, and allow more users to try "AI-powered copilot, which can provide helpful answers to your questions."
Microsoft is betting big on Bing Chat, which has already been integrated into its various products.
Microsoft said Bing Chat functionality requires Android 8.0 and newer. It also requires quite an extensive list of permissions.
According to the report, the feature is also meant to be rolled out to Surface Duo devices.
What this means, those who are using Microsoft's first-party Android device, they too are getting an AI injection with the Microsoft Launcher update.
It's worth noting though, that Microsoft Launcher has always offered Bing integration.
The only difference here is that, the beta update adds "Bing Chat" to all search bars in Launcher.
Read: Microsoft Makes Its Bing Chatbot AI Available On Google Chrome And Apple Safari