You may have heard that Microsoft has released mobile versions of their Office apps for Android and iOS, but that’s only scratching the surface of what they’ve published. What’s more some of their apps are more popular on Android and iOS than Windows Phone.
Microsoft’s recent move to open up the Office platform to Android and iOS has received quite a bit of press and many of the apps are garnering good reviews including recent praise from the Wall Street Journal for the Outlook for iOS and Android app. No longer running under the “First-and-best on Windows” flag, Microsoft has continued to release or upgrade apps for Android and iOS that promote their online and cloud services. Recent news of Microsoft investing $70M in Cyanogen, the makers of the popular CyanogenMod version of Android is even more proof of their determination to ingrain themselves into other mobile OS ecosystems. But will they be successful in helping Cyanogen “take Android away from Google”?
Microsoft currently has 61 apps available on the Google Play Store and 48 available for iPhone on iTunes. These include the names you would normally think of like the Office apps, Bing Search, and OneDrive. But here are a few that you might not expect.
Games
Microsoft has several game apps available including Wordament, Snap Attack, Kinectimals, Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin, QuizToWin, and Age of Empires Crafting Guide. Wordament as an example has between 500,000 and 1,000,000 downloads and currently has a rating of 4.3 on Google Play. Snap Attach has between 50,000-100,000 installs with a rating of 4.1. While Microsoft’s website doesn’t list downloads, the review comparison would indicate that more people have downloaded Snap Attack on Android than Windows phone with the app having 4,738 review on the Play Store compared to only 649 on Windows Phone Store.
XBox
Microsoft has several XBox apps available including the SmartGlass application that lets you control your XBox 360 or XBox One using your mobile phone. They also have the XBox Music streaming service app.
MSN
Microsoft’s MSN online services are very well represented on Android and iOS with apps for News, Weather, Sports, Health and Fitness, Money, and Food and Drinks. Microsoft Health is also available which provides access to Microsoft Band fitness wearable features. On iOS only there is an app called HealthVault that offers you the ability to store all of your medical information in a single place if you want that sort of data on your phone.
Enterprise Apps
There are plenty of enterprise apps available as well including Remote Desktop, Dynamics CRM, AX, and NAV apps, as well as apps meant to be used with their InTune service such as InTune PDF Viewer, InTune AV Player, and InTune Managed Browser.
Developer/Other Apps
This is an area where you can find some interesting departures from what you might consider standard Microsoft faire. These apps include the on{X} app which allows you to create automation on your phone using JavaScript such as sending a text message when your battery gets below a threshold level or turning off the phone’s ringer when it notices that you’re in church. Also along the lines of developer tools is the TouchDevelop app that allows you to create apps and games for your phone using a visual interface. Another interesting app is Torque: Bing Search which allows you to perform voice activated Bing searches by shaking your phone or by twisting your SmartWatch. There is also a very nice lock screen app called Next Lock Screen that provides you quick access to your key data directly from the Android lock screen.