Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Microsoft is reportedly working on integrating your phone more deeply into Windows 11 by improving and expanding upon Phone Link’s experiences.
- One change is a new dedicated smartphone flyout that provides an overview of your phone’s status, as well as toggles for features such as do not disturb and vibrate mode.
- The company is also said to be working on a new dedicated messaging app that will exist as a standalone experience.
Microsoft has long been working on ways to bring Windows and your Android phone closer together. In 2018, the company launched the Your Phone and Your Phone Companion apps, which let you bring certain capabilities and content from your phone to your PC. These apps later got rebranded to Phone Link and Link to Windows. A new report says that Microsoft is now exploring ways to expand and improve upon Phone Link so these experiences feel more native to its own OS.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft is discussing several upgrades, one of which will enhance the Phone Companion found in Start. It’s reported that the Phone Companion will show more recent activities, and you won’t need to open Phone Link to look through them. Additionally, you’ll be able to hover over these activities to learn more, such as viewing a full message.
The next change that could come our way is a new dedicated smartphone pop-up. You’ll reportedly see a phone icon on the Taskbar, like in the mock-up above, when your phone is connected. Clicking on the icon will open a flyout that contains an overview of your phone’s status, along with buttons to toggle certain features. A few of the toggles that the outlet lists are do not disturb, vibrate mode, and find phone. It appears you’ll also be able to transfer files to your phone by dragging them to the phone icon.
Another update that’s mentioned is an improvement to clipboard history syncing. Right now, you can sync your clipboard between your phone and PC, but only the last thing you copied is remembered. Microsoft is said to be working on an improvement that would sync your entire clipboard history between the two devices.
The final upgrade revealed in this report describes a new dedicated Messages app. There’s already a messaging feature in the Phone Link app. However, the new Messages app would be a standalone app that you can pin and access from the Start menu.
At the moment, the outlet’s sources say that these features are being prototyped internally. There’s a chance that they could change to some extent before users get their hands on them. Microsoft will also likely be looking for feedback from its Insider community before release.
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