Microsoft is finally pushing the phone link into one of the largest upgrade, after months of testing it with internal sources. The update brings a new, easy-to-access panel to the start menu, allowing you to interact directly with your phone without leaving the desktop.
Strengthen phone link connection
Despite some solid contestants, for whom the best phone on Windows is the companion app, the Microsoft phone link is one of the best you can bend. Certainly, KDE connect has its own benefits, and it is super easy to set, but the phone link is already correct in your Windows PC. This is a very large plus for many.
Now, in addition to the phone link panel in the start menu, it will be even easier to interact with your upcoming messages, files and more. You can briefly see the new panel in action in the following advertisement from Microsoft.
The new panel is docked on the right side of the start menu and shows you the current status of your device. The items shown on the panel include the current battery life of your phone, any recent call, text, as well as all above and your device’s easy access to photo gallery.
Although it does not directly show recent notifications on the panel, you can easily adapt them to appear to appear in the lower right corner of your screen – where the rest of your Windows notifications appear.
Gently roll out
Like most of the major feature, Microsoft introduces into Windows, this new phone link panel is gradually rolling Windows users in a stable, but controlled release. It has been seen on the PC running Windows 11 version 26100.4061, but is officially rolling for stable branches for a few days. Sadly, I have not yet received a new panel. If you do not have either, I manually recommend checking for Windows updates and installing any available.
Even if you do not get a panel in those updates, running the latest version of Windows will ensure that you are protected from any current exploitation.
As I mentioned above, Microsoft spent months to test the feature in Windows Insider versions, including both beta and Dev channel. Therefore, finally it is exciting to see its release for a stable branch. If you have not yet set the phone link and have an Android phone, I recommend doing so. It makes it very easy to work between your devices.
While the phone link works best with Samsung phone – even the phone link has some Samsung exclusive features – the app is great to connect any Android device from your PC. It also works with the iPhone, although it is almost not and at the same time it does with Android phone.
Keeping Microsoft in mind, updating and adding new features to the app, it should be no surprise that many still feel that the phone link is the only app that you need to connect your phone to Windows.
