Microsoft Corp. is killing off its standalone Cortana smart assistant apps for Android and iOS four years after their launch, but support may remain in the U.S. at least for some time longer.

The announcement was made in a Nov. 14 Microsoft support notice that gives Jan. 31 next year as the end of support for the Cortana apps. “At that point, the Cortana content you created – such as reminders and lists – will no longer function in the Cortana mobile app or Microsoft Launcher, but can still be accessed through Cortana on Windows,” the notice reads.

The countries affected by the announcement are Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Mexico, China, Spain, Canada and India. The U.S. is not on that list although as The Verge pointed out it’s not clear how much longer Cortana for iOS and Android will work in the U.S. after support is pulled in other countries.

The decision to pull the standalone apps has raised some concerns because currently the Cortana app is required to update firmware on devices such as the Surface Headphones. Microsoft will likely will have an alternative solution for users to update their devices before Cortana support is pulled.

Cortana will live on in iOS and Android devices, however, since the service will be provided in Microsoft 365 productivity apps. Those apps, announced at the Microsoft Ignite Conference in November, include a Cortana-driven Play My Emails in Outlook along with new support for scheduling meetings using the digital assistant.

The demise of Cortana, once pushed as an alternative to Alexa and Google Assistant, has been fairly rapid. Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella indicated a shift in focus in January, saying that the company was no longer trying to compete against Google LLC and Amazon.com Inc. in this area and instead is looking to make Cortana available as a native “skill” for both Alexa and Google Assistant as part of a new push to court consumers.

At around the same, Microsoft started downgrading support for Cortana in Windows 10 by removing it from the search bar. And in July, Microsoft announced it was dropping Cortana from Xbox One.

Cortana will live on in Microsoft’s Office apps, but with support for the mobile apps being pulled in most territories, its days as a serious player in the voice assistant arena are over.

Photo: iphonedigital/Flickr