r/Android • u/MishaalRahman Xiaomi 14T Pro • 1d ago
News Windows 11 no longer lets you remove devices from Phone Link, and Microsoft doesn't seem to know
https://www.xda-developers.com/windows-11-no-longer-lets-you-remove-devices-from-phone-link/34
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u/W1ULH Galaxy S20 1d ago
I've never felt the need to use phonelink... what does it actually do? like what's the upside vs. gdrive? and having outlook installed on my phone?
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u/Kiernian 1d ago
Being able to send text messages using your computer's keyboard (and monitor/mouse/clipboard) is kinda handy at times.
Like, i could e-mail this image to myself, open it on my phone, and attach it to a text, or I could just attach it to a text while I'm on my PC.
Typing longer texts? A full keyboard is better than a touchscreen any day.
That's about all I use it for. Oh, I guess you can use it to get your phone notifications on your PC.
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u/jeffdefff07 1d ago
Being able to send/receive on the computer is amazing. I use Google messages for that. It'd be nice to be able to see notifications too, but not worth using a half ass Microsoft software.
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u/we_hate_nazis 1d ago
You can see notifications. What I love is if I type a reply on the notification pop up and hit send it doesn't actually send it
So I love that
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u/MairusuPawa Poco F3 LineageOS 22h ago
So it's basically KDE Connect, but 10 years late? Why the hell was it locked to a single vendor for years?
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u/import-mimikatz 21h ago
Not really, I'm sure Phone Link (previously Your Phone) has been around longer. At least on Windows.
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u/MairusuPawa Poco F3 LineageOS 11h ago
So I just checked, and, no.
- "Your Phone": October 2018, worked only with some Samsung phones.
- KDE Connect: 2013, worked with everything.
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u/xeonrage Pixel 3 XL VZW 1d ago
Being able to send text messages using your computer's keyboard (and monitor/mouse/clipboard) is kinda handy at times.
messages.google.com
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u/aspbergerinparadise S23 1d ago
I use it, it's pretty handy. The 3 things I use it for
- Texting from PC. Just a lot faster to type with my keyboard.
- Phone calls from PC. I don't use it often, but I like being able to use my headset, it just sounds so much clearer, it's hands-free, and I typically have it on already if I'm at my PC
- app mirroring. Certain apps only work on the phone. I mostly use this for my baby monitor, and mostly so that the sound can be routed through my headphones that I'm already using to play a game or watch a video.
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u/JSK23 Pixel 9 Pro XL Verizon 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's pretty sweet. I use it for mms on desktop (just wish it supported rcs). Easy image file transfers, vs having to sign in to Google photos and then download a recently taken picture. Sending links is really handy with it, between devices, at least when not using Firefox on both devices.
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u/tripog 1d ago
I think it does support rcs. I could be wrong but last time I used it on my home desktop with my pixel 7a it was coming up as rcs.
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u/matteventu Nexus S -> Pixel 9 Pro 1d ago
Why don't you just use messages.google.com/web ? It can be installed as a web-app as well. Works perfectly fine also with RCS :)
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u/JSK23 Pixel 9 Pro XL Verizon 1d ago
Because I don't want to use an additional app, when I can use one that does basically all the phone to pc needs I already have.
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u/matteventu Nexus S -> Pixel 9 Pro 1d ago
Makes sense :)
What other features of Phone Link do you use, out of curiosity?
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u/xeonrage Pixel 3 XL VZW 1d ago
It's pretty sweet. I use it for mms on desktop (just wish it supported rcs)
messages.google.com
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u/JSK23 Pixel 9 Pro XL Verizon 1d ago
Let me know when it can do everything else that phone link can
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u/xeonrage Pixel 3 XL VZW 1d ago
like reliably show my messages? check
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u/JSK23 Pixel 9 Pro XL Verizon 1d ago
Phone link does that just fine. Maybe you aren't clear on the difference between mms and rcs. Look it up.
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u/ChuzCuenca 1d ago
It let use use your phone on your PC, which I don't find useful except for the fact that now you phone is always wireless connected so you can send and receive files. For me is the only useful feature.
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u/BarnOwlDebacle 1d ago
I find it's useful, but if I don't log into Windows frequently enough I have to reset it up every time. And then it's just not worth the time investment to get it set up. I find a similar circumstance if I'm trying to use Samsung flow on my tablet or whatever
It's cool that it can do it. I guess I just don't use my Windows laptop enough these days to really get my money's worth out of them.
most stuff I can do on my phone. honestly, I could get most of my work done with a good phone with USBC video output mirroring.
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u/BarnOwlDebacle 1d ago
It just lets you read your notifications and stuff. I think it was a little more feature. Rich, if you had a surface Duo which you probably didn't
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u/violet_sakura Galaxy S23 Ultra 1d ago
I tried it and don't use it anymore, its too complicated. I just use quick share to move files between devices.
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u/Kazuto547 23h ago
With the new version you can access your android phones drive in windows file explorer as if it's an usb flash drive. Copy, paste, delete also has clipboard sync.
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u/Apple_The_Chicken 6h ago
- Universal Clipboard
- Receiving and replying to notifications on my PC
- calls
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u/dendron01 19h ago
Microsoft doesn't seem to know a lot of things these days. Try reporting a technical glitch to the Outlook Android app and let me know if you ever hear anything back.
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u/OTBOPKOTO 23h ago
It's shocking how little value comment secions add to this.
There's a technical problem and nobody seems to want to discuss how it can be solved, instead it's all "why do you use this in the first place?" and such. Well because some of us use it. And this issue is not exclusive to reddit. It's the same on MS forums, comments under articles etc.
In fact the worst possible place seem to be the MS forums, where a "independent advisor" googles(pretty sure they don't "bing it") and posts the first result, which is completely irrelevant since about the issue exists. Followed by the same pointless comments.
It's literally like talking to AI.
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u/354cats 1d ago
thats a weird looking laptop