As expected, Microsoft today raised a curtain on Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family. These are consumer-fronted versions of its service bundle package that we have known as Microsoft 365 Life. Microsoft says all current Office 365 subscribers will be moved to the new plans when they launch on April 21.
Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family were announced during a virtual event as Microsoft continues to avoid physical gatherings amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Unfortunately, the Surface Book 3 was not announced as many predicted it would be.
During the event, Microsoft discussed some of the apps that are coming to the new plans. These are the tools and features that will differentiate Personal and Family from the enterprise versions of Microsoft 365.
For example, Microsoft Editor is an app that helps users better edit their written content. It provides more robust grammar suggestions than the built-in grammar tool in Microsoft Word.
Next up is a Money feature that has been added to Excel. Microsoft says the tool makes it easier for people to track their own finances. Elsewhere, Microsoft says Excel also has new data types, such as diet tracking for food.
Family Safety and Teams
While Money and Editor are nice tweaks, the standout new feature of Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family is the Family Safety app.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnSuASngwK8
This new application makes it simply for family members to stay up to speed with their digital usage. It functions across Windows 10, Xbox, and Android, and allow users to see which applications are used the most and how long they’re used for.
Importantly, account owners can set screen-time limits on these apps. So, if Junior is spending too much time on Fortnite, you can shut him down for the night. Microsoft says it has protected the privacy of kids if parents want to shut off the feature. Interestingly, Family Safety also lets you find out where iOS and Android users are.
Finally, the new Microsoft 365 versions have added Microsoft Teams for consumers by default.
