How to use Your Phone app in Windows 10 2023

Microsoft has invested heavily in both Android and iOS ecosystem. One of the efforts is Your phone. It's a built-in feature in Windows 10, which provides notifications, the ability to reply to these messages, to receive and send SMS messages, to display images on the Your phone application. That's a lot! The feature should also be able to handle calls, but this seems to be a phased deployment. In this article, we will explain how to set up and use the Your Phone app in Windows 10.

How to use the app Your phone in Windows 10

There are two parts to this experience. One is to configure the application or connect it to the computer. Second, the configuration of the application in terms of notifications:

Set up your phone in Windows 10
Manage notifications, access images and SMS
Delete the link from your phone.

Before proceeding, make sure that the minimum requirement is met:

A PC under Windows 10 April 2018 Update or later.
The phone uses Android 7.0 (Nougat) or later.

The installation process is a bit different for Samsung phones.

1) Configure your phone application in Windows 10

Your Phone Windows 10 Setup Add Phone

Windows 10 has a Phone section in the Windows 10 settings, but it differs from your phone's application. The Phone section lists all the phones connected and linked to the Microsoft account. It also helps you connect and link an Android or iPhone to a Windows 10 computer. Although this simplifies the installation process, you can still add the phone without it. But first, let's learn how to do it in the usual way.

Open the Windows settings with the help of WIN + I., and then click the Phone section.
If you have already connected a phone, it will be listed here. If it's the first time, click Add a phone button.
It will launch the application Your phone.
The next screen will ask the type of phone, that is, Android or iOS. Select and continue
It will then send you a text with a link to the Your companion phone App (Android)
You need to install the application and log in using the same account, which is on Windows 10 computer.
The application on the computer will wait in the background until the end of the process.
As soon as you log in, the PC application will be notified and will connect.

Link your phone application from phone to PC

Since the application on the PC and the phone will connect, you will have to allow yourself so that it can work in the ground and access the files. This can have an impact on battery life as it will continue to operate in the background.

The companion app of your mobile has no configuration. The only task is to send the notifications that arrive on the phone to your Windows 10 computer.

At the beginning of this section, I shared the fact that there is another configuration method. All you need is to install the application and log in with the Microsoft account. When you do this, the application on the phone will show how you can configure the PC – anyway, it's the same thing.

Related: Troubleshoot your Phone application on Windows 10

2) Manage notifications, access images and SMS

Your phone application, and not the Phone section in Settings, allows you to manage the mobile connection mode to a Windows 10 computer. If you have multiple phones, you can manage them individually.

Your Windows 10 Settings Phone

Configure settings

This is the first thing to configure. Launch the application, then click on the gear icon in the lower left. Here you can configure the settings for Photos, Messages and Notifications.

pictures: One option that will disable access to images. If you often transfer photos between a computer and a phone, keep this option turned on.
posts: You should not miss an SMS notification, especially if it comes from your bank or any other item related to finance. If there are too many notifications, I suggest you keep at least the banner or the activated badge in the taskbar.
Notifications: Here you can configure application notifications. It is disabled by default and, when you enable it, all applications on the phone are allowed. You must configure which application can display the notifications; otherwise it will be too much distraction. Expand the link that says "Choose the apps that are warning you," and turn off the less critical apps.

The best part of the notification of the application is that it supports the answer. You can reply to SMS, SMS, WhatsApp or messenger from the mobile without launching the application.

Access photos

It displays 25 recent photos, which also include screenshots. It is clear that this is not for transferring images, but only for quick access to screenshots and recently taken photos.

If you click on it, the image will be opened in the default photo application, but if you want to share it, right click. You can then choose to copy, share and save as. When you click on the share, the default sharing menu application opens, allowing you to send it to Apps and Mail configured under Windows.

Read and send messages

This is probably the best part of the application, which allows you to read the SMS, send back an answer and create a new message. I remember Google having launched the Web version of the Android messages, but this solution is much better.

The notifications

If you do not like to take mobile to view the latest notification, you'll love this section. It replicates mobile notifications. When you ignore a notification on a PC, the notification is also deleted from the phone. If notifications do not synchronize, read our troubleshooting guide – Notifications for your phone application are not synchronized or functional.

Microsoft has done a great job with this application and you can almost be without a phone while you work on your PC. The Call feature was supposed to be available with Windows 10 v1909, but I still do not see it on my computer.

How to delete your phone link

There is no option to delete the connected device from the Windows 10 computer. The easiest way is to disconnect from the companion app on the phone. This is useful when you want to disconnect temporarily. If you are looking for a permanent solution, follow these steps:

Open Windows Settings> Phone
Click the Manage All Devices button for your Microsoft account.
It will open in the browser and you will need to log in with the same Microsoft account that you have on your computer.
The link will take you to the page where all devices associated with the Microsoft account are available. Find the phone you want to delete.
Click Manage, and then choose Unlink.
Select the check box and click Remove to complete the process.

I hope the tutorial was easy to follow and that you figured out how to use your phone's application.