Category: Microsoft Launcher

If there is a flagship app from Microsoft on Android, outside of the Office 365 apps, it is Microsoft Launcher.  The launcher has proven to be very successful for the Redmond company, especially for those who are tied closely to the Microsoft ecosystem of other apps.  Now the company is rolling out an update to Launcher that brings more enterprise ties and other creature comforts to let you customize things more in it.

The update is version 4.5 for those keeping score at home and is rolling out now in the Google Play Store.  From an enterprise perspective, if you work for a company that leverages Microsoft Intune for data protection policies, you can now configure Microsoft Launcher to view that corporate data.  While you have always been able to add a corporate Office 365 account to the launcher, this new addition will give users with more strict data protection policies to leverage it on their phones.

Just a month after hitting the 1 million download mark, Microsoft Launcher has now pushed passed 10 million downloads according to the Google Play Store.  It is an incredible download increase rate and while downloads don’t necessarily reflect day-to-day users, clearly there are people downloading it to at the very least try it out.

2017 has been an incredible year for Microsoft Launcher.  It was rebranded from Arrow Launcher in the summer and with that came a significant rebuild of the app that made it more customizable and user friendly.  Those tweaks continue as earlier this month the update to version 4.3 brought more customizing that users can do.

I have contended for quite some time, including in my review, that this launcher is likely the best out there for readers who are entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Microsoft Launcher has hit an important stage in its usage:  1 Million.

That is the number of active users of the launcher from Redmond which was formerly known as Arrow Launcher.  The news of this important milestone came from Microsoft’s Joshua Bradley via Twitter.

Microsoft Launcher hit a million active users and hit #1 trending app in the play store. Proud of the team! pic.twitter.com/gaZ7HsiYF3

— Joshua Bradley (@jshbrdly) November 17, 2017

In the grand scheme of the Play Store, 1 million active users might seem small but for a launcher that the company has only really started promoting hard over the past couple of months, it is a nice figure.

Microsoft Launcher has a new update rolling out that should get those of you who are on the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10 excited.  The updated version of what was once known as Arrow Launcher is build 4.1.1.37741 and it brings with it a Fluent Design inspired look to the Utility page.

For those who are not Windows users, Fluent Design is Microsoft’s take on the semi-transparent look of apps that you find in MacOS and mobile.  To this point, the Utility page has had two themes:  Light or Dark.  Now you can change that to be transparent and can adjust how much blur you want behind the cards or widget.