Microsoft’s Your Phone app makes phones play nicely with Windows 10
Android phones and Windows-powered computers have not always been the best of friends. Yes, there are third-party services that make the transfer of files a bit easier, and you can always email yourself in a pinch, but wouldn’t it be better if there was a native solution?
Microsoft agrees, and Windows Insiders are getting an early insight into what it looks like.
The Your Phone app comes bundled with the latest preview build of Windows 10 and syncs photos taken on your phone to Windows. From there, you can just drag and drop photos into other applications: straight into PowerPoint for a presentation, or into Photoshop to edit out the selfie wrinkles.
Related: Google Photos backup
As this GIF from Microsoft shows, it really is pretty seamless. Well, almost seamless. For this kind of synchronisation, you do need to download a Microsoft app to your device, and only Android 7.0 and later is supported.
There’s iPhone support too, but it’s considerably more limited at the moment. Your Phone for iPhone simple allows you to send websites from your handset to the PC – meaning you can carry on reading long articles or watching videos with the comfort of a bigger screen.
It’s like a more limited version of Pushbullet, in other words.
Related: Windows 10 review
Eventually, according to Microsoft’s original plans, both iOS and Android phones will have parity of features, and that could expand to text messages and notifications too.
For now, this more limited version is just for Windows Insiders, but assuming there are no teething problems in this early testing, the feature may well land with the next Windows 10 update, which is due in October. It’s not clear whether it will be bundled, or available as a download at the moment.
Will the Your Phone app make your life easier? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
