Microsoft Launcher beta receives a slew of new features

One thing which makes the Android platform so desirable is the fact that it can be customized as per a user's requirement. When it comes to the customizability of the launchers, then it is Android which tops the charts followed by third-part Nova launcher. However, the Redmond Giant Microsoft is also not left behind and it seems that its own solution has been gaining a lot of traction in the recent months. Now, Microsoft has introduced a whole sloe of features to the Microsoft Launcher.

Microsoft has recently started rolling out a whole new set of features to the Beta channel of the Microsoft Launcher. The new feature introduces family features, improvements for the Cortana assistant among others.

One of the major highlights of this update is its ability to allow the parents to choose which kids to show or hide on the family card. This lays a foundation of relatively new family safety feature which Microsoft has added recently. This feature allows the parents to keep a tab of their child's activity on the Android smartphones which are running the launcher, in addition to the Windows PCs and Xbox gaming consoles.

The other new features include some overall improvements to read news articles in Microsoft Edge, along with the support for multi-turn SMS and making calls using Cortana and more features. Along with this the new update also adds the support for removing screens in overview mode using drag and drop gesture.

The complete changelog is as follows:

• Family: parents can show/hide kids in the Family card;• Cortana: support multi-turn SMS + calling;

• UI improvements: welcome page, settings page, widgets & context menu;

• Improvements in reading news articles with Microsoft Edge browser;

• Toggle to hide page indicator on the home screen;

• Support for removing screens in overview mode via drag & drop