Phone Link is Microsoft’s built-in tool for connecting your Android phone or iPhone to a Windows PC — letting you see notifications, send texts, make calls, and even run apps, all without picking your phone up. It comes free with Windows 10 and 11. Here’s what it actually does, and how it differs depending on which phone you have.
What Does Phone Link Actually Do?
Once connected, Phone Link lets you:
- See and reply to text messages from your PC
- View phone notifications on your desktop
- Make and receive calls through your computer’s microphone and speakers
- Access recent photos from your phone without a cable
- Drag and drop files between your phone and PC
On supported Samsung Galaxy devices, it goes further — you can run individual Android apps in their own windows on your desktop, not just mirror the whole screen.
Android vs iPhone: What’s Different
Phone Link’s feature set is noticeably different depending on your phone, because Apple restricts what third-party apps can do with iOS far more than Android allows:
- Android gets the full feature set — notifications, messages, calls, photos, and (on select Samsung models) full app mirroring.
- iPhone is more limited — you get calls and messages via Bluetooth, but no notification mirroring, no photo access, and no app mirroring. It’s a genuinely lighter experience.
If you’re choosing a phone specifically to get the most out of Phone Link, Android — and Samsung in particular — gives you meaningfully more than an iPhone will.
How to Set It Up
- Open the Phone Link app on Windows (it’s pre-installed on Windows 11 and most Windows 10 machines) and select your phone type.
- On Android, install the Link to Windows app from the Play Store (many Samsung phones have this built in already). On iPhone, no app install is needed — it uses Bluetooth directly.
- Scan the QR code shown on your PC with your phone’s camera or the Link to Windows app.
- Grant the requested permissions (notifications, contacts, messages) on your phone.
The whole process takes a couple of minutes on a good connection.
Is Phone Link Safe to Use?
Yes — Phone Link is a first-party Microsoft tool, and the connection between your phone and PC is encrypted. Your messages and notifications sync directly between your own devices rather than passing through a third-party server. That said, since it does display messages and notifications on your PC screen, it’s worth being mindful of who else can see your desktop if you’re in a shared or public space.
Common Issues
Phone Link mostly works well, but connection drops and sync issues aren’t unusual. We’ve covered the most common problems and fixes in a separate guide: Phone Link Troubleshooting: Common Issues and How to Fix Them.
