Microsoft’s intelligent take on an Android front end, Next Lock Screen, just got much more useful if you’re a music maven or love to chat online. An updated version not only brings music controls to the lock screen (as you’ll sometimes see elsewhere), but surfaces your Hangouts, Line and Skype messages; you’ll know at a glance whether or not that friend got back to you.

The new software shows MMS chats, too. While it may still feel a bit odd to use an Android interface add-on from the folks in Redmond, the revamp is big enough that you’ll want to give it a shot if your phone’s existing lock layout just isn’t cutting it.

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