Microsoft announced that it has redesigned the user interface of Outlook on iOS and Android. The company also revealed that in the nine months since launch, the mobile apps have gained 30 million active users.
One in five of the apps’ active users are connecting more than one account, the company says, and they’re accounting for 1.2 billion Outlook sessions per month.
“These numbers show what we’ve known for some time—despite reports to the contrary—email is a key communications channel across all parts of our life, and there is growing demand for a mobile email experience that helps to effectively manage those conversations,” says Javier Soltero, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Outlook team. “We made terrific progress over the last nine months, but we are just getting started.”
The iOS redesign is rolling out today.
“Outlook for iOS receives a clean, refined new look that puts your email, calendar, people and files front and center,” explains Soltero. “Throughout the app, we focused on improving the small but important details that add up to making Outlook the best designed, most powerful mobile email app available. We tweaked UI elements by adding visual cues to help you see and process information more quickly at a glance. We also improved navigation around the app and made key features more prominent—so you can do more with fewer taps. When getting work done on the go, it’s these little time savers that count.”
The message list calls out event invitations with the “event” icon showing events at a glance including details of the event and an RSVP button. The flag and attachment icons re more prominent and look more like the Windows experience.
As you scroll through your inbox, you can now tap the Mail button to go back to the top.
The compose feature now has more simplified options and those are easier to access.
The Calendar navigation icon now shows the date, and the Today buton moves as you scroll through the calendar while the day picker grays out days that have passed so it’s easier to find the current day.
The Android redesign will launch in early November. It’s a bit different as it leverages Material Design to make it feel like a more natural fit for the operating system.
“To make this redesign possible, over the past few months, Microsoft put the design expertise and fresh thinking of their new friends from Sunrise to work,” a spokesperson for Microsoft tells WebProNews.
Microsoft announced its acquisition of calendar app creator Sunrise back in February. The Sunrise team is now officially part of the Outlook product team.
There will also be an update for Windows Phone eventually. Microsoft is also sharing more details on future Sunrise integration with Outlook Mobile for iOS, Android and Windows. In the months ahead, you can expect to see richer calendar experiences in Outlook including Interesting Calendars and connections to other apps and services. Outlook will also improve its ability to create meetings and handle them across time zones.
Outlook will eventually replace the current Sunrise app, but that won’t happen until the Sunrise features are fully integrated.
Images via Microsoft
