Microsoft’s Bing Chat (Bing Chat) has brought some major improvements for mobile users today, launching context chat for mobile Edge browser, iOS and Android platforms for Bing Chat, and the ability to have a continuous Bing Chat conversation between mobile and desktop.
Starting today, users can now start a Bing Chat conversation on PC and continue the conversation on mobile. Microsoft gave an example where a user could ask Bing Chat on a PC to create a recipe for the user, and then when the user gets to the grocery store and if a certain ingredient is missing, the user can ask for a substitute on the mobile app. The feature will be rolling out gradually starting today and will be available to all iOS and Android users within the next week.
The second big mobile change is contextual chat in Edge for iOS and Android. This is very similar to the functionality that exists in the Bing sidebar in Edge desktop, allowing the mobile browser to read the context of the website the user is browsing. Users can tap the Bing Chat icon at the bottom of Edge to ask questions about the site they’re viewing, and even have it summarize an article or document they’re reading. Edge mobile will also support selected text actions, where users can highlight a piece of text and Bing will explain or summarize it. Microsoft says the two new Edge features will roll out to mobile users soon.
Microsoft is also bringing iOS and Android users a mobile widget that can be pinned to the home screen for quick access to Bing Chat. The widget includes a Bing icon to go directly to Bing Chat and a microphone icon to ask questions by voice. The feature will be available on iOS and Android this week, and Microsoft is also improving language support for its voice input.
It was previously reported that the SwiftKey keyboard for iOS and Android has recently added Bing support and Microsoft has now updated it to allow it to write full messages with options for tone, format, and length. This is the same feature used to compose messages in the Edge sidebar, and on mobile, users will be able to configure a message and have it instantly copied to the messaging app and email. There’s also now an AI-powered translator built into the SwiftKey keyboard, along with witty and fun tone options. Finally, Skype is also adding Bing Chat to group chats. If you’re on Skype, just @Bing in the conversation and the chatbot will respond to queries and conversations.
