Edge launched in beta on iOS and Android a little over two months ago. After an extensive bug-fixing process since, Microsoft’s now ready to drop the “preview” tag and release the browser to every interested smartphone owner. The company intends to increase adoption of Edge by making it available to mobile users as well as Windows 10 customers.
Many of Edge’s features are designed to offer a seamless experience when used with a Windows 10 PC. This is a recurring theme for Microsoft’s current consumer products. The company said it wants to make it easier to switch between working on your phone and your PC, a process many people complete several times a day.
Edge can sync your favourites, history, reading list and passwords to and from your Windows 10 PC. The browser’s also capable of immediately opening a webpage on another device, letting you quickly switch between desktop and mobile or save a page for later.
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In addition to the syncing capabilities, Edge for mobile has the same convenience features as Edge for Windows 10. The overall design of the browser is similar between platforms, including a dynamic New Tab page with news headlines and an optional dark theme. Microsoft said it’s bringing Edge to iOS and Android to help people “achieve more” by simplifying browsing, adding that more features will launch over time.
“We are committed to empowering people and organizations to achieve more. And Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android is another step in that journey,” said Microsoft. “While we’re excited to remove the preview label along with the download restrictions, we are more excited about all that’s ahead. We have a long list of new features to build and improvements to make.”
The launch will help existing Edge users on Windows 10 to have a smoother browsing experience on mobile. However, with Edge’s overall adoption still extremely low, questions remain over how many people will actually use the new app. iOS and Android already have established browser ecosystems and cross-device syncing. Edge’s only unique capability is the option of opening your current webpage on another device.
If you want to give the browser a try, you can download it today from the App Store or Google Play Store as a free download. To sync your content, you’ll need to sign-in with the same Microsoft account as you use on your Windows 10 PC.
