I only recently downloaded the Microsoft Copilot app for my smartphone. I waited not out of hostility but just because I didn’t see much point when I have other AI apps, including ChatGPT, the source of most of Copilot’s AI models. With Microsoft planning some big Copilot announcements at an event this week, I’ve been playing around with the AI assistant more, including the mobile app.
Honestly, I was more impressed than I expected to be. Copilot’s not perfect, of course. That said, the app does have some charm in how it looks and operates.
Imagine ChatGPT as a loft with exposed beams and unvarnished wood walls. In that analogy, Copilot has installed ceilings and lights that are easy on the eyes, illuminating pleasant paintings hung up on nicely painted walls. The room has the same purpose, but it’s a different experience.
Here are some of the notable aspects of the Microsoft Copilot app worth highlighting.
Voices
One of the first things I checked was Copilot’s voice capability. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the four voice options sound, and how human their cadence. They don’t sound like robots reading from a script. There are two voices that sound like men and two that sound like women, each with their own tone, but they all manage to sound like actual people.
And the interactions are paced to human conversation quite well, too. You can interrupt Copilot or ask it to explain something in a different way, even change topics entirely mid-sentence without it losing track or pausing for long. It’s comparable to ChatGPT’s voice mode and arguably sometimes came across as less stiff despite its origins in the same AI models.
Copilot Daily
AI-generated podcasts are starting to pop up here and there, but the Copilot Daily stands out for how embedded the AI is in the entire process. The app offers a short AI-generated audio rundown of news, trivia, and little explainers about the world every morning.
Some days, it’s tech-heavy. Other days, it gives me a summary of something going on in finance or a deeper dive into a cultural trend I only vaguely understand. It’s short, around four or five minutes, smooth, and feels like just the right amount of information you need to have a basic understanding, but with the sense that there’s more to it if you want to get more details.
I like how unselfconscious it is in its style. It’s not trying to be flashy, and there’s just a little bit of intro music. There are no dramatic sound effects or long ads. Just a clear, friendly voice giving you a five-minute update that doesn’t feel randomly scraped from the headlines of a search engine.
Clean looks
There’s something comforting about an app that doesn’t feel like it’s performing for you. Copilot’s iOS design is minimalist in the best way. No obnoxious pop-ups, no cluttered menus pretending to be productivity hacks, just a few bittons and minimal swiping.
It opens fast, too, perhaps just a hair faster than ChatGPT or Gemini, but enough that I noticed it. It’s also very quick to change to be more creative, more concise, or more casual with a tap. Many AI apps feel like they’re trying to cram all of their features into one screen at the same time. I enjoyed the less busy approach of Copilot. Also, though I can’t prove it, I could swear the default font is slightly larger.
If you’re already deep into the AI ecosystem, you might not think you need another app. I get it. ChatGPT will probably stay my default for now. But I’m much more likely to contrast its responses to Copilot than I would have thought.
It has the same imperfections of any AI assistant, but there’s an undefinable serenity about it that caught me off guard. It feels like the result of a company that’s been paying attention to the aesthetics of the AI interface as well as what the AI can do.
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erichs211@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz)
