Microsoft quietly acquires Echo, a lock screen replacement app for Android

Microsoft is no stranger when it comes to making Android apps. But when they’re not porting their apps and services over to the rival platform, they’re busy acquiring the development teams behind some of the best Android apps around. You may remember the internet freaking out earlier this year when Microsoft picked up Sunrise Calendar, one of the most beautifully design calendar apps we’d ever seen.

Today, Business Insider reports that Microsoft has quietly acquired another popular Android app called Echo Notification Lockscreen. The app actually marks the second lock screen replacement Microsoft now owns, with the company’s ‘Microsoft Garage’ research division launching Next Lock Screen last year. It’s clear Microsoft is taking notifications on Android very seriously. According to Microsoft Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green, current notifications — like the ones on your lock screen — show you anything and everything an app wants to show you, not necessarily what’s important to you. There’s nothing personal about it.

So, why purchase Echo in the first place? Well, given their mobile market share isn’t very large, they’re sort of using it as way to gain feedback from all those millions of Android users with Echo acting as a sort of test bed for new features that will eventually make their way into Microsoft’s other products (Windows 10, Mobile, Office, etc.). Although Double Labs — the developers of Echo lock screen — haven’t mentioned anything about the buyout on their blog, it seems Echo is now officially another Microsoft product.