Microsoft has just purchased Echo Notification Lockscreen, a popular Android app that allows you to personalize what appears on your Android phone when you lock your device. Interestingly enough, this marks the second Android lockscreen app the company owns (having developed Next lockscreen for Android).
Most default lockscreens on any platform are not necessarily personalized. As Microsoft’s own Julie Larson Green says, these typical lockscreens show you what the app wants you to see, not what’s important to you. Part of Julie’s role at Microsoft as the Chief Experience Officer is to come up with new ways, or experiences, for the company’s products. What better way to experiment than to purchase an app, which is available on the top mobile platform. As Business Insider reports, Android is the “perfect research testbed” for Microsoft.
Echo Lockscreen for Android has over fifty thousand reviews in the Google Play store. Theoretically, whatever Microsoft develops with the Next and Echo lockscreens can hopefully make their way to the company’s own Windows 10 Mobile platform. You can check out the app below.
“Echo is the fastest and coolest lockscreen for your notifications. Featured by Google as a top app, Echo Lockscreen is loved by users in 50+ countries. Download Echo to bring notifications to your lockscreen,” the app description reads. Here are the key features of the app:
- Instant notifications – Echo shows the complete notification and not just a summary. Never miss an important message or notification with Echo.
- Minimal design – Cool lockscreen design. No effect on your battery
- Music controls – Control music without unlocking
- Automatic Grouping – Auto groups your Instagram alerts into social and your Gmail messages into work. Similar alerts are bundled together so you can deal with them all at once.
- Snooze – Snooze notifications to come back at a later time or place you’re ready to deal with them: tomorrow, when you get home, or whenever you like.
- Lockscreen security – Protect your phone with Echo’s pattern lock.
- Personalize – Personalize your lock screen design with wallpapers and notification settings
