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Windows 10 Can Control Your Phone Via PC But You Can’t Make Calls

This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.

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Using mobile apps via PC has become a useful tool for those who’re glued to their desks all day.

Popular platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram are accessible by mirroring the phone app on the bigger screen, something which is widely used by people across the globe.

But if you’re looking to access more content from your phone on a Windows PC then you have the “Your Phone” app, available on Windows as well as Android for mobile users. This app lets users read messages and even access photos stored in the phone’s library. It can also make calls, but to speak or listen, you still need to lift the phone.

So how does this app work and what else does this offer to the user? Here’s a detailed look at this new app and whether it is worth downloading.

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Snapshot

How to Use Your Phone App:

  • Download the “Your Phone” app on your Android mobile phone
  • Sign in with your Microsoft ID, verify using OTP and email for confirmation
  • Pair the phone to the PC via the app
  • You’ll see mobile phone’s home screen on the Windows screen
This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.
Download from the Windows Store.
(Photo: Windows 10 screen grab)

Once you open the app, you’ll notice the phone’s activities reflecting on the PC. This feature, unlike how WhatsApp Web works, doesn’t exactly mirror the app. Instead, both the PC and phone are operating simultaneously.

This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.
Your phone’s screen accessible on the PC.
(Photo: The Quint)

This does raise a few security concerns as it allows anybody to see what you’re doing on the phone. You can see all the photos shared on the phone and that have been captured by the camera or shared via WhatsApp.

This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.
Can see photos from your phone.
(Photo: Your Phone app screen grab)

You can read messages from the phone on the PC screen, and you can reply to them too.

This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.
Read messages too.
(Photo: Your Phone app screen grab)

You can allow the app to show notifications on the screen, and even disable it if you don’t want the app to display the phone screen.

This app links your PC with your smartphone, allowing you to access a host of content like photos and messages.
Change the settings to suit your needs.
(Photo: Your Phone app screen grab)

What ‘Your Phone’ Offers

  1. Make phone voice calls but can’t talk from PC
  2. Read messages from phone, access Photos as well
  3. Works only via Android phone
  4. Doesn’t mirror your phone, only the app shows on the big screen

Can It Make Calls?

While these are a list of things that the Your Phone app can do, it’s worth pointing out the app doesn’t exactly let you take calls from the PC. Instead, you’ll have to do it the traditional way, which is, pick up the phone to talk.

Your Phone is just another way of showing how far Microsoft has come from being a confined ecosystem. Ever since Satya Nadella took over reigns at the company, its products have become platform agnostic, something that works in favour of users.

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