14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has updated lots of its mobile applications in the last couple of weeks, and today, a trio of apps developed by the company have also been updated in the Google Play Store.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint have received their updates recently and they all bring the same new feature. According to the official changelog, some bug fixes and performance improvements have been implemented too, but it's unclear whether or not they are the same for all three apps.
Anyway, the most important change is the addition of multi-factor authentication for Office 365 accounts. This feature is already available for Office 365 users on PCs and smartphones, but Android tablets were missing it until recently.
With this multi-factor authentication function, Office 365 users will have the option to sign in more securely by responding to a phone call, text message of phone notification after they have entered their password.
This security feature is now available to all Android tablet users, so they can take advantage of extra security features.
Extra features for IT admins have been added too
But this is not the only new feature included in this update. Microsoft also added support for Mobile Application Management with Microsoft Intune.
This improvement will allow IT administrators to restrict copying of company data from managed Office apps to personal apps, enable app level encryption, enforce app level PIN, and selectively wipe managed apps and related data on a device.
If you don't have these apps installed yet, you can now download Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsft PowerPoint for Android for free via Google Play Store.
Keep in mind that all these applications are fully compatible with all devices powered by Android 4.4 KitKat and higher.
According to Microsoft, the tablet versions of these Office apps require a screen size of at least 7 inches, ARM-based processor, and 1GB of RAM or above.