In December 2023, Microsoft launched the Copilot app for Android, which offers many useful AI-powered features. It can answer your questions, write content for you, and create images for you among other things. Now, Microsoft has released a new beta version of the app (version 27.9.420225014) which brings the ability to set Copilot as the default digital assistant app on your device, letting you access Copilot by just long-pressing the home/power button or swiping diagonally from the corner of the screen.

You can now set the Microsoft Copilot app as your default assistant app on Android!

With version 27.9.420225014, available in beta, you can change the default assistant app to Copilot. This lets you launch Copilot from any screen by swiping diagonally from the corner or… pic.twitter.com/M5FxLzIdxT

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 26, 2024

Unfortunately, setting Copilot as the default digital assistant app only opens the app when you long-press the home/power button or swipe diagonally from the corner of the screen. Other digital assistants, such as Google Assistant/Gemini and Bixby can analyze the screen and offer functionalities based on the content on the screen. While Copilot isn’t as useful as others in this scenario, the latest change is a welcome addition, and Microsoft could equip it to analyze the screen like other apps to make it more useful.

You can set Copilot as the default digital assistant on your Galaxy smartphone or tablet by going to Settings » Device assistance app and selecting Copilot. At the moment, there’s no information about when Microsoft will make this feature available in the stable version of the app. Earlier this month, Microsoft launched a new user interface for Copilot on Android, iOS, and Windows, and before that, the company launched Copilot Pro, a paid subscription to the chatbot that offers additional features.