At the Build 2018 Conference today, Microsoft is launching a new way to enable cross-platform interactions by letting you bridge the experience gap between your PC and your smartphone. The newly introduced ‘Your Phone’ app is supposed to be a window into your smartphone.
Your Phone will allow you access to text messages, notifications, and photos stored on your mobile device directly from your Windows 10 PC. And to enable this feature, you will not require an addition hub – the likes of Samsung DeX – to connect. The idea is to give you complete access to the essentials on your smartphone without having to depend on any other application.
Your Phone will let you read and reply to texts and check out all the notifications on your smartphone – you will, however, not be able to access the respective apps. While that limits its usefulness, being able to selectively address notifications will keep you from getting completely overwhelmed by them.
All this will be done without physically connecting your Android or iOS device to the PC. Microsoft said that Your Phone will soon be available to those who have signed up for Windows Insiders program. The Windows client is already available in the latest Windows 10 Insiders Preview.
Functionality will vary depending on whether you use an Android phone or an iPhone – Microsoft says Your Phone will be able to show almost all Android notifications, whereas iOS feature-set is a bit limited. While Windows Insider Builds will get the app, it’s not certain when the app will be ready for stable build users.
Apart from Your Phone, Microsoft is taking the multi-platform approach a bit further by promising updates to Microsoft Launcher as well as Microsoft Edge, with the introduction of Windows 10 Timeline for Android and iOS devices.
