Microsoft had a number of announcements to make today, some of which will make their way over to Android. The biggest news is the rebranding of Microsoft Office 365 to simply "Microsoft 365." With that name change comes a number of new features that will be available when the new plans launch next month.
Microsoft 365 will be available in two subscription plans: Personal and Family. These new plans will replace the existing Office 365 plans for consumers. Along with the name change comes a couple of additions. First, Microsoft Family Safety is an app to allow families to share their location, manage screen time, and more.
Microsoft Family Safety is similar to many popular apps used by families. It combines several features that parents can use to keep tabs on their kids' various activities. Parents can get information about screen time and even see how that time is broken down by device, including Windows, Android, and Xbox. Limits can be created for viewing times and for content based on age restrictions.
Location sharing is another feature of Microsoft Family Safety. Everyone in the family can see when people arrive at locations such as home, school, and work. You can set up notifications to know when someone arrives or leaves a location. The app can even give out driving reports, which could be useful for new drivers in the family.
Next up is Microsoft Teams for consumers. Teams has primarily been for businesses while Skype is the consumer-focused option, but that's changing in Microsoft 365. Microsoft Teams for consumers has many of the features you'd expect from a group chat app, including video calls, but also handy things like to-do list sharing and more. The company is positioning Teams to be a tool for people planning things together.
Microsoft 365 will also bring more features to Office users. The company's powerful AI-powered Editor will be available to anyone who subscribes to Microsoft 365. This feature is basically a more advanced version of Grammarly. Subscribers will get access to a rewrite feature than can rephrase an entire sentence. The tool also includes a plagiarism checker to help students to cite sources in research papers.
Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions will be available starting on April 21st. The Personal plan costs $6.99 per month, while the Family plan (up to six people) costs $9.99 per month. Some of these new features will be available first in preview and others will roll out over the coming months.
Source: Microsoft