Microsoft Office for Android is now free

Microsoft just made Office Mobile for Android free for home use. The app itself, available on Android since July of 2013, was always free, but it previously required a subscription to Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of cloud-based productivity tools. Now Microsoft waived that requirement, bringing its powerful tools to all mobile workers using Android and the iPhone. The announcement was made today along with the introduction of an Office version for the iPad.

Office for Android lets you edit and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from smartphones without any restrictions. The app is available in the Play Store here.

At the announcement event, Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella said the company is committed to making its cloud services available across all platforms. But the company wasn’t always so open. The Redmond-based giant was slow to make the Office suite – one of its main cash cows – available to Android and iOS users. While Microsoft was taking its sweet time, the web-based Google Docs and a number of dedicated apps have filled the void.

Besides Office Mobile, some of the best productivity apps for Android are QuickOffice, Documents to Go, Kingsoft Office, and Officesuite 7. Check them all out here.