Cortana is getting support for multiple users sometime soon. Microsoft has seemingly published the setup process for the new multi-user experience, which is supposed to deliver a personalised experience for users who share a Cortana device with others in their family depending on their voice.

Cortana will allow users to add up to 6 users on each device. The “main” owner of the device will first have to teach Cortana their voice by asking the assistant on a Cortana-powered device, like the Harman Kardon Invoke, to learn their voice using. Once that’s done, other users will be able to set up their voice and accounts on the device.

After everything is set up, users will get access to their personalised content, including things like email, calendar, music, and reminders. Cortana will be able to detect your voice and deliver these personalised results. Microsoft does warn that if someone has a voice similar to yours, they may get access to your personal data.

It’s not clear exactly when the new feature will go live for everyone, though I do believe Microsoft has been working on this feature for a while. It is meant to work on more than just Cortana-powered speakers, so you will be able to get multi-users set up on devices like the Xbox One as well. Right now, when trying to get Cortana to learn my voice, it simply performs a web search but that’ll probably change once the feature is live.

Thanks for the tip, Jonathan!

Tagged with Cortana, Invoke