The ‘Your Phone’ app lets you seamlessly connect your Windows 11 PC to your Android device, and syncs your phone’s pictures, videos, messages, calls, notifications, and even compatible apps. It also allows you to mirror your phone screen and access the phone’s home screen and apps from your PC.

However, some of the app’s functionalities are limited exclusively to Surface Duo or Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Microsoft could expand full support for linking Windows to other Android devices in the future. You can find the list of all supported Android devices on the Microsoft website. Thankfully, most of the features like sending and receiving text messages, making calls, accessing contacts, and viewing your recent phone photos are supported by all recent Android phones.

Linking your phone and PC together helps you keep track of what’s happening on your smartphone without ever touching your phone. This will improve your productivity and makes it simple to multitask and get things done. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to link your Android phones to Windows 11 and access your phone from Windows 11 devices.

Does ‘Your Phone’ app Works with iPhone?

Microsoft’s ‘Your Phone’ app does not work well with iPhones or other iOS-based devices at this time. While you can still pair your iPhone to your PC with some workarounds, but you cannot sync your iPhone to Windows 11 the way Android devices do. That’s because Apple locks down iOS and doesn’t allow much access and flexibility as android phones. 

‘Your Phone’ app used to connect to iPhones in the past, but going forward Microsoft has dropped support for iOS devices. Due to iOS limitations, it is nearly impossible to get reliable, consistent syncing to Windows PCs.


How to Link/Connect an Android Phone to Windows 11 using ‘Your Phone’ app

‘Your Phone’ app helps sync your smartphone with your Windows PC and seamlessly access your phone’s content from your computer. Follow the below steps to link your Android mobile device to Windows 11.

To link your Windows 11 PC with your Android device, you’ll need the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC (which is pre-installed on your Windows 11 PC) and the ‘Your Phone Companion app’ on your android phone. Also, both your phone and Windows 11 PC needs to be connected to the same wireless (Wi-Fi) network for this to work.

You can also connect the android devices with Windows 10 computers by following the same instruction.

First, search for the pre-installed ‘Your Phone’ app in the Windows search and open the result.

In the app, you’ll see a welcome page with a ‘Get started’ button. Click that button.

On the next page, it will ask you to sign in with your Microsoft account, there click the ‘Sign-in’ button.

A Sign-in pop-up box will appear. There, you can select an account that you already used to sign in with your computer or click the ‘Microsoft account’ option below to use a different account to sign in. Then, click ‘Continue’.

If you’re using a different account to sign in or you haven’t signed into a Microsoft account on your computer already, then enter your login credentials and click ‘Continue’.

Once you signed in, the app will show you a QR code as shown below.

If you already installed ‘Your Phone Companion’ on your phone, scan this QR code through that app. If not, follow these steps to install the app and scan the code.

Install the ‘Your Phone Companion’ App on Andriod Device

You need to install the ‘Your Phone Companion – Link to Windows’ app on your mobile device from Google Play Store. If you have a Samsung mobile phone, this app would be pre-installed on your device.

To install the app, search for ‘Your Phone Companion’ on your Google Play Store and open the result or go to aka.ms/yourpc on your phone’s web browser to direct you to the app in the play store. Then, click ‘Install’ to install the app.

Once installed, open the app on your phone, then click the ‘Link your phone and PC’ button as shown below.

Next, click ‘Continue’ to scan the QR code shown on your Windows PC. If a QR code is not shown on your computer, go to aka.ms/yourphoneQRC on your PC’s browser and it will open the app to show you the QR code for pairing.

You can now scan the QR code shown on your Windows PC with your phone’s camera.

If you cannot scan the QR with your phone due to a camera malfunction or for some other reason, you can also sign in to the companion app with the same Microsoft account you’re signed into on your PC. If you press the back button when you’re on the scanner, you’ll see the ‘Sign-in with Microsoft’ option.

Once, the devices are paired, you will need to grant few permissions to the app to allow your PC to access content from your phone. To do that, click ‘Continue’.

Next, click ‘Allow’ for all three permission requests to let the app access your contacts, messages, calls, photos, and media.

Then, click ‘Continue’ to set the battery preference for the app.

At last, click the ‘Done’ button.

Then. you’ll see the “Your phone and PC are linked” message in the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app.

Setting Up ‘Your Phone’ app

After settings up the Companion app, you’ll have to finish setting up the ‘Your Phone’ app on the PC. Once, the QR code is scanned and the phone is connected, click the ‘Done’ button on the QR code page.

Finally, you’ll see the “You’re all set” message, click ‘Continue’ to use the app. That’s it, now your mobile device is linked with the Your Phone app.

When you open the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC, you’ll see a welcome message, click ‘Get started’.

Now, the app will show you what are the things you would be able to do with this app including, text message conversations, make phone calls, view photos, and see phone notifications. Click ‘Skip’.

Since the android phone connected here is not a Samsung device, the features are limited. If you’re using a Samsung device, you would also be able to transfer files between devices, mirror phone screens, access apps, and more.

Now, you should see tabs for Notifications, Messages, Photos, Calls, and Contacts in the app. While you’ll be able to see messages and photos from your mobile phone by clicking on those tabs, the Notification and Calls functions need a little more setup.

As you can see, the ‘Your Phone’ app would be displayed with the same theme as your mobile phone.

Making Calls using Your Phone app on a Windows 11 PC

To make calls from your PC, you need to pair your phone and PC via Bluetooth and enable permissions from your phone. To do that, follow these steps:

Open the ‘Calls’ tab on the left sidebar on ‘Your Phone’ app (your PC) and if your PC’s Bluetooth is turned off, click ‘Enable’ to turn it on.

Next, turn on Bluetooth on your smartphone and keep it nearby. Then, click the ‘Connect’ button on your PC to establish a connection with your mobile phone.

Your PC will need permission from your phone to display your call logs and make calls. To do that, click the ‘Send Permission’ button on your PC. This will send a permission request to your phone.

On your phone you’ll see a notification – “We need your permission to show phone calls on your PC”. Click on that notification to grant permission for the app. Here, tap ‘Allow’ for the ‘Allow Your Phone Companion to access your phone call logs?’ prompt.

Once you enable the permission, you’ll now be able to see your recent call logs in the ‘Calls’ tab on your PC. Now, you can place calls from a PC without touching your phone.

When you make calls from your PC’s ‘Your Phone’ app, the call is actually being made by your phone, but can you speak and hear through your PC’s microphone and speaker.


See your Phone’s Notifications on your Windows 11 PC

You don’t have to keep checking your phone every time you get a notification when you are working your computer, instead, you can check your smartphone notification directly on your computer without ever having to take your eye off your PC. With the ‘Your Phone’ app, you can see all your phones’ notifications on your PC and concentrate on your work without any distractions.

To sync notifications with your PC, open the ‘Notifications’ tab in the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC. Then, click on the ‘Open settings on phone’ button on the right.

When you click on the above button, you’ll see a notification on your phone that says – “We need your permission to sync your phone’s notification to your PC”. Click that notification to open the ‘Notification access’ settings on your phone. There, find the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app, click on that app to enable permission.

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On the next page, turn on the toggle next to ‘Allow notification access’.

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This will open a settings page called ‘Danger’ or Warning’. Don’t be alarmed! Since you’re allowing another device to read and control notifications, your phone will issue this warning. Your phone notification may contain private and sensitive information (like messages from your bank) which could be leaked or misused, that’s why your phone warns you with this message. But if you’re only allowing your own computer to access notifications from your phone, so, you should be safe.

If you choose to continue, tick the option that says “I’m aware of all possible risks and assume all possible consequences voluntarily”, and click ‘OK’.

Now, the ‘Allow notification access’ option is enabled.

Then, open the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC and click the ‘Refresh’ option. Now, whenever you receive notifications on your smartphone, you’ll also see them here.

To clear a notification, click on the ‘X’ symbol to the right of notification and it will be cleared from your PC as well as your mobile phone. To clear all notifications, click ‘Clear all’.


Linking Another Device to your PC

You can link or connect more than one smartphone device to your Windows 11 PC through the ‘Your Phone’ app. But you can only access messages, calls, photos, and others from one device at a time.

To link another android device to your PC, open the ‘Your Phone’ app and click ‘Settings’ at the bottom of the left navigation panel.

In the Settings pane, click ‘My Devices’ and you’ll see a ‘Link new Device’ option on the right. You can select the ‘Link new Device’ option and add another android device by following the same instruction we showed you before. You can add as many devices as you want but only one can be set as a primary device from which you can access the contents.

To disconnect or unlink a device from the ‘Your Phone’ app, click the ‘More options’ (three-dots) button on the device name in the My Devices setting and select ‘Remove’.


How to Send Links from your phone to PC via Your Phone App

Your Phone Companion app lets you share links from the supported apps such as web browsers, YouTube, Pinterest, and more from your Andriod phone to your Windows 11 PC. When you send links from your phone to PC, they will be opened directly on your Windows browser.

For example, if you watching a video on YouTube on your mobile phone but you think the mobile screen is too small to watch the video, then you send the video link to your PC and continue watching it on your computer. Here’s how you can do that:

Before you start sharing, make sure your computer is turned on and you have the ‘Your Phone’ app open or running in the background on your PC.

Open a YouTube video on your phone and click the ‘Share’ button.

In the Share options, select the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app.

Then, select your computer in the ‘Send to a PC’ pop-up box.

If the link is sent, you’ll see a “Success! Check your PC.” message.

This will automatically open the link directly in the Microsoft Edge browser on your system.


Disabling Features in Your Phone App

If you don’t want the ‘Your Phone’ app to access certain content from your mobile phone, you can disable those features from the app. For example, if you decided that you don’t want the ‘Your Phone’ app to access your photos anymore because you’re worried that someone who uses your computer may see your personal photos, then you can disable your PC from displaying Phone photos.

How to Disable Photos Sync from your Phone to your PC

First, open the ‘Your Phone’ app from your computer, click ‘Settings’ and select ‘Features’.

This will open the Features page in the app, where you’ll see a list of options for enabling or disabling features.

Then, scroll down the Features page and turn off the toggle – ‘Allow this app to show photos from phone’ under the Photos section. You can also disable other features in this app – calls, messages, notifications, contacts.

These features can be easily re-enabled with the click of a button. For instance, to see photos again, go to the ‘Photo’s tab and click ‘See Photos’ to see the recent photos from your phones.

You cannot permanently disable the features from the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC. To do that, you would have to revoke permission for certain features from your mobile phone.

How to Disable your Phone’s Notification to show up on your PC

If you feel your privacy and information are at risk and you want to disable notification access from your smartphone to your PC, here’s how you do it:

First, open ‘Settings’ in your android phone and select the ‘Privacy protection’ option.

In the Privacy protection settings, select ‘Special permissions’.

On the Special app access page, select the ‘Notification access’ option.

Then, choose the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app from the list.

This will open the Notification access page for the Your Phone Companion app. Here, turn off the toggle. Now, the ‘Your Phone’ app on your PC will longer be able to access notifications from your mobile phone.

Limit Your Phone Companion App Permission on your Android Device

If you want to fully prevent the PC from accessing certain contents from your smartphone, then you would have to revoke permissions for the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app in your mobile phone.

For example, if you don’t want your PC (via Your Phone) to access photos from your phone, then you would have to revoke ‘Files and Media’ permission for the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app. This will prevent the PC from accessing photos from your phone. Here’s, how you do this:

Open ‘Settings’ in your android phone and select ‘Apps’.

From the list of apps, find the ‘Your Phone Companion’ app and tap on it.

On the App info page, select the ‘App permissions’ option.

Then, select the ‘Files and media’ option from the list of permissions. If you want to revoke any other permission, select the appropriate option.

Finally, click ‘Deny’ to prevent media access to this app.

Your PC access your mobile phone’s content via the Your Phone Companion app. When you block access to this app, your PC can’t access content through this app.

Now, your PC cannot show photos (via Your Phone app) from your smartphone anymore.