Almost everyone now has a smartphone. But not every smartphone owner has a computer. Many tasks can be done on the phone without the need for a computer. Still, like me, no matter how much phones evolve, there will be those who will prioritize and love a computer more than a phone.
One of our favorite things is to keep our devices connected to each other. The application I reviewed in the Previous article, which facilitates file sharing between phone and computer, was one of these applications.
The app in this article connects phone and computer in a much more comprehensive way. The app is currently called Phone Link and is being developed by Microsoft. I wrote current because the previous name of the app was Your Phone. The app that provides the connection on the phone is called Link to Windows. It was formerly called Your Phone Companion.
What is Phone Link?
Phone Link is an application for controlling Android and iOS phones on Windows. The features it offers may vary depending on the operating system, hardware, make and model.
Having recently gained iPhone support, the most compatible devices that the app works with are Microsoft’s Surface Duo devices and certain Samsung or Honor models, which come with the Windows Link app installed. Other device owners can install the Windows Link app from the Play Store or App Store, depending on the operating systemsused.
Features
The app has the following features:
- See notifications coming to the phone as Windows notifications and manage them through the app.
- Send and receive SMS and MMS through the app.
- Make calls from Windows and view and answer incoming calls.
- See recent calls and find contacts from this list, from the keypad or from the search box and initiate a call or message.
- View the last two thousand photos on the phone and transfer them to the computer.
- View the phone screen from the computer and control it with TalkBack support.
- Two-way file transfer via drag and drop with the phone window
- Two-way clipboard (copy and paste) sharing.
- Open and connect the phone’s mobile hotspot from the app.
- See and launch recently used apps on the phone from the taskbar.
Installation and Usage
The app comes installed on Windows and some Android phones. For devices that do not have it installed, it can be installed from the links below.
- Phone Link app in the Microsoft Store
- Link to Windows app on Google Play Store
- Link to Windows app in the Apple App Store
From here, after installing the apps on both devices to be connected, we first open Phone Link on Windows and start by selecting the device type. The setup is quite easy, and the instructions are clear.
After completing the setup and granting permissions, you’ll see the main screen of the app. On the left side of the home screen, at the top, there is information about the phone, such as connection and battery level, and buttons for sound mode, do not disturb and audio player.
Below these is the area where notifications are listed, and actions related to notifications are available.
On the right side, covering most of the screen, there is a tabbed structure. These tabs are messages, photos, apps, and settings. Next are the settings and other actions buttons.
If we ignore the notifications pane on the left side:
In the Messages tab, the list of conversations is on the left and the content of the conversation selected from the list is on the right,
In the Calls tab, on the left is the list of recent calls, on the right is the keypad and just above it is the search box where you can search for contacts,
In the Photos tab, you can find a list of photos in grid view, whose related actions can be accessed via the context menu.
In the Apps tab, you can see the grid-like icons and labels of the apps.
Further down the tabs, the mobile hotspot can be accessed via the “Instant hotspot” option, while the “What’s new” section shows what features have been added. Customizations of the app are also available in the settings.
Phone Link and Accessibility
So far, I’ve done a general review of the app, but what follows is important.
Microsoft has been paying more attention to accessibility in its applications and Windows for the last few years. It considers accessibility as a priority in the applications it develops. You can see an example of this in the Phone Link app.
In the Android version of Link to Windows, you can see that it has been added to the system as an accessibility service, and in the description of this service, it is stated that this service is intended to improve accessibility.
When the screen of the Android device is displayed in the Phone Link, it is detected that TalkBack is open and a connection is established with TalkBack thanks to this service. This makes it possible to use TalkBack’s keyboard shortcuts to navigate the phone screen with a computer keyboard. In addition, TalkBack’s voice can be heard through the computer speakers, which can be adjusted in the settings.
Although this service is designed to work with TalkBack, I found that it was only partially usable when I tried it with Jieshuo, but it is still necessary to use TalkBack for the most efficient use.
I should add that I am a Windows Insider user, and I may be using some features earlier. As far as I know, all the features I mentioned above are available in the stable Windows version, but if you don’t have a feature, it may mean that it is not yet available in the stable version, or it may mean that it is not supported by your devices.
I’ve tried to explain Phone Link as best as I could in this rather lengthy article, and I hope it was useful.
Nice article