Microsoft is very keen on improving its Android and iOS apps and services to make users feel like home, and these include digital assistant Cortana.

Originally a Windows-exclusive feature, Cortana has greatly improved on both iOS and Android in the last months, and the most recent version for iPhone and iPad brings a noticeable performance upgrade.

Cortana will now launch 20 percent faster on an iPhone, according to Microsoft’s own figures, and if you think that’s not something truly important, you’re wrong.

Using a digital assistant implies launching it tens of times every day, maybe even more frequent than that for hardcore users who rely on such technology to perform the majority of things they do on a phone. So having Cortana launch 20 percent faster makes the experience a lot smoother in all these moments throughout the day, which is essential to say the least especially on an iPhone where users already have the native Siri.

The fight against native digital assistants

Obviously, Microsoft’s big challenge on iOS is to convince users that Cortana is a much better choice than the integrated Siri, despite Apple itself regularly launching updates for its own digital assistant.

On the other hand, Cortana sports a series of advantages as compared to Siri, and it all comes down to Windows 10. Cortana features Windows 10 integration in a way that allows PC users to have some features work across multiple devices, such as setting reminders, and for customers without a Mac, this is clearly something that comes in very handy.

This is a strategy that Microsoft has also embraced on Android, where it tries to use Cortana as a means to keep PCs and phones in sync, and it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the digital assistant evolves.

In the meantime, you can download the latest version of Cortana (2.6.7 today) from the App Store to benefit from the highly-praised faster launch speed as well.