Microsoft is updating its new Band with music controls today. It’s a feature the company admits “customers have been asking for,” and it will work with any music app on a smartphone. Pause, play, skip forward and back are all supported, alongside volume control. Microsoft is partnering with Spotify to provide some holiday tunes, but any apps work across the Bluetooth connection.
Microsoft Band update includes music controls and movement reminder
is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.
Alongside the music controls, Microsoft is taking an annoying feature from the Apple Watch and bringing it to the Band. The new update allows Band owners to receive notifications when they’ve been sat still too long. Thankfully, Microsoft is managing this carefully so you’ll be asked if you want to enable the reminders and there’s even a setting to disable them for a period of time if you’re planning to sleep.
Microsoft is also tweaking its exercise tile on the Band, making it easier to track calorie burn, hear rate, and duration of exercise. Popular activities like yoga or weightlifting will also be easily accessible, and data in Microsoft Health will be grouped by these new exercise types. The latest Microsoft Band software update is available immediately for the Microsoft Band 2. Microsoft has not yet provided an update with these features for the original Microsoft Band.
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