After about a month of beta testing, Microsoft Launcher 5.0 is now rolling out to the general public bringing the version up to 5.0.1.46982 which (at the time of writing) is actually the same exact version on offer at the beta program page on the Google Play store as well.
Microsoft Launcher 5.0 features a completely revamped Feed page and the long-awaited Timeline integration. The Feed will now consist of three tabs: Glance, News, and the aforementioned Timeline, which can be laid out in any order the user prefers.
The latter works as you'd expect, giving you access to recent activities, such as documents or web pages, from all your synced devices. News is essentially the same as the widget that's previously been part of the Feed page, which you can customize to display topics of your interest. Meanwhile, Glance retains most of the remaining functionality carried over from previous versions, including built-in and custom widgets. The Calendar in this page has also been redesigned, but the 'to-do' section still connects to Wunderlist rather than Microsoft To-Do, with Microsoft saying they're working on integration with the latter.
Microsoft also added a changelog which we've included:
5.0.11.46982 release (noted on beta page, but offered on public listing too)
- minor release including crash and bug fixing for 5.0.0 release.
5.0.0 release
- Feed- Updated Feed navigation for your Glance, News and Timeline tabs. You can now access your Feed settings from the top of your Feed
- News- Updated News experience powered by Microsoft News
- Timeline on mobile- Activities from your PC and phone now can be seen on your Android phone
- Cortana- Use Cortana to send emails with multi-turn emailing. Cortana is now supported in the DE-DE market
- Family- Parents can now view their kids’ real-time location
If you had opted into the beta at some point to get these features but want to roll back to the public version, you can do so by visiting this link and choosing to leave the beta program, on the flip side, if you want to be on the cutting edge and join the beta program, go here.
You can grab the update by checking My Apps & games in the Play Store app on your device, or through the Google Play store web page.
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