Microsoft confirms that Android and iOS devices will get Windows Hello authentication support

It’s more than clear to anyone who’s been paying attention that Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy is no passing fancy. The company is committed to supporting every relevant platform in its transition to a “cloud-first, mobile-first” productivity company across the board. Certainly, Microsoft has been consistently providing excellent first-party apps for iOS and Android, sometimes before producing Windows 10 versions, and the company has integrated Windows 10 very tightly with Android smartphones.

At Ignite 2016, Microsoft provided some confirmation that they will be pushing one Windows 10-specific feature to iOS and Android devices. Specifically, it looks like the company will definitely be expanding Windows 10’s Hello authentication technology to support iOS and Android “companion devices.”

Consider the following slides:

They clearly indicate that Windows 10 Hello will support more types of devices for authenticating, meaning that although the company may want its users to continue using Windows 10 machines, it’s not nearly so important that they use Windows 10 Mobile devices for 2nd-factor authentication. We’ll be keeping our eye on this development to see how many other technologies will make it to competitive platforms.