A new update to Microsoft's Your Phone app will be extremely useful for professionals who move between an Android phone and a Windows 10 PC for work or personal use. A new feature in the app allows users to get all of their Android phone notifications—or the ones they select—directly on their PC.
Users will also be able to manage those Android notifications on their PC, responding to texts through the computer instead of the phone. You can also take a photo on your Android phone and see it on your computer immediately, which could be helpful for adding photos to a presentation or social media scheduling tool.
The Your Phone app launched last year, with Microsoft continually testing and rolling out new features for Windows Insiders. The feature allowing users to sync app notifications from the phone to a connected Windows 10 PC began rolling out for Windows Insiders using the app back in April
In May, Windows added updates to the app including the ability to send and receive MMS messages, images, and GIFs, as well as syncing over mobile data, and not just over WiFi.
With the latest update, if someone messages you on WhatsApp, for example, you will be able to click the notification on your PC and it will open WhatsApp on your phone, and mirror the phone screen to your PC, allowing you to reply, Thurrott noted.
Here's how to use Your Phone to receive and manage Android notifications on your Windows 10 PC:
- Link your Android phone to your computer in Windows Settings, or through the Your Phone app
- Download the Your Phone app from Microsoft to your mobile phone (you must have Android 7.0 or later)
- Follow the setup prompts
