If you want to control your phone from the PC, you should use Microsoft’s aptly named ‘Your Phone’ app. Granted, there are a few other options out there. But, the titular app is natively baked into Windows 10 and even comes integrated with newer Samsung Galaxy phones. The app is frequently getting updated with new features, thus bridging the gap between Android and Windows.
So, if you’re unversed about the Your Phone app, we believe you must at least give it a try. It’ll be particularly handy when you wish to keep the phone at bay but also receive important notifications.
Here are a few things you should check out, while you’re at it:
Best Your Phone Features, Tips, and Tricks
1. Mirror your phone screen on the PC
You can ape the phone interface on the PC desktop. This means you can view files (like slides, documents, spreadsheets, etc) from the phone on a big canvas. All this works over a WiFi connection.
Also, you should be able to access the phone’s apps on select PCs. It currently supports interaction using keyboard, mouse, touch, and stylus.
On touchscreen computers, you’d be able to open apps, select items, click on links, etc using taps and presses. Theoretically, you should be able to play casual games. Although expect some lags to creep up with an increase in graphics.
In some high-end Samsung flagships, this endows cross-device copy-paste function too. The compatible devices include Samsung Galaxy S20, Samsung Galaxy S20+, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.
Now, if you want help with setting up the Your Phone app on both Windows and Android phones, here’s a tutorial for that.
2. Run Android apps on Windows
After mirroring your Android phone’s screen to Windows desktop, the next obvious step has to be using the apps on the former. Well, Microsoft lets you do just that. But, there’s a catch.
You get to run Android apps in a separate window outside the Your Phone app. Not just that, you can now cycle between this and the Windows apps using Alt+Tab key combination, pin the favorite apps to the taskbar, and more.
As for the asterisk, the feature is limited to users with select Samsung phones and the latest Windows Insider update on the PC.
3. Pick and Make calls on the PC
You’d see a call button within the conversations to make a call to that person. Else, you can dial the number or search for the contact and then fire the call. Either way, the app will fetch the number, make and receive calls just like a regular phone. Thus making it worthy of its title.
4. Read and Reply to SMS from PC
You can read and respond to text messages. Not just that, if the chats are long-winded, open them in a separate resizable floating window. This way, you can do other tasks while staying in the loop.
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5. Interact with phone notifications from PC
Just like messages, you can read, dismiss, and even respond to the notifications from various apps and services on the phone.
6. Access photos from your phone on the PC
This could also be a super convenient feature to have. You can view the most recent 2,000 photos from your Android device on the PC. Note, it only fetches photos from the camera roll and screenshot folder. Moreover, it only lets you interact with (save) copies of the original file. So, if you edit, delete, or do whatever, it won’t affect the photo on the phone.
7. Scan text in images
This one and the following one are upcoming features of the Your Phone.
It is basically employing OCR, just like the Google Lens, to scan. But, it is nifty nonetheless to copy things like phone numbers and addresses from an image on the phone. And all you gotta do is right-click and select “Copy Text from Picture”.
8. Control Music Control
Since we could already interact with notifications, this one seems to be an obvious addition. In a forthcoming update, Your Phone will get the music control feature. That is you would be able to navigate the music playback from certain Android apps from the PC. The supported apps list at present comprises of Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Xiaomi Music, and Google podcast.
For this to work, you must allow permission for Audio apps on Android to show notifications. And turn on “Show audio currently playing from my phone” setting in Your Phone App Settings under the Personalization section.
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That’s all for now.
We are positive that more features are on the way. And as and when they go live, we will be updating the list. So, you may bookmark this page to not miss out.
