Ever since Microsoft announced that it would be merging Outlook with Sunrise Calendar, the iOS and Android versions of the app have enjoyed certain features that Windows 10 did not. According to a session at Microsoft's Ignite 2016 conference, that will no longer be the case.
One feature that other platforms have enjoyed is Focused Inbox, which shows priority messages, rather than everything.
Other features on the above list are a bit newer to all mobile platforms, such as @-mentions and cloud attachments, but they'll still have to make their way to the Windows 10 UWP app.
We got a chance to speak to a few people from the team at Ignite about the mobile apps, and Microsoft told us that it is planning to keep a feature parity between iOS, Android, and Windows 10. Moving forward, new features should be launched at the same time across all three platforms. We'll see if the company can keep to this promise, but that's what we were told.
As for why the Windows app is so different from its counterparts, we were told that it has to do with being the default app on Windows. On iOS and Android, Outlook is an app that you have the option to download if you choose to do so, whereas a default application requires a different experience.
In case you were wondering, you shouldn't have to wait long to see the new features on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. According to the slide, it should be before the end of the year; however, we were told that it will be either the end of this year or the first quarter of 2017. Insiders should see it fairly soon though.
12 Comments - Add comment