Cortana for iOS beta rolls out

Siri might have some serious competition on Apple handsets soon, with the news that Cortana on iOS has moved into the Beta phase.

Cortana is Microsoft's personal assistant, so named in honour of the AI character in the Xbox's massive gaming franchise Halo. While she's not quite as smart as that paragon of programming, Cortan can do plenty on your handset, including setting up reminders, answering your questions and telling jokes when you least expect.

Beta testers have been getting to grips with the iOS version of the app during November 2015, following on from Microsoft's confirmation they were working on the software for both iOS and Android. From what we've heard, the beta testing is much more limited than what was available on Android, and Cortana will also be able to do less on iOS, thanks to the restrictions Apple places on third party software.