What’s the Deal with the Your Phone App for Windows 10?

You know how we like to throw around the term “connected devices” to refer to everything from our smartwatches to our smartphones and our smart refrigerators? The term “ecosystem” gets thrown a lot too in this context, but the inter-connectivity between our devices is still imperfect. Microsoft is working to improve that with the Your Phone app for Windows 10.

While previously only available to Windows Insiders, the Your Phone app is now available for regular folks too. Or at least it was for a little while there, but it may have already been revoked again.

So, what’s the deal with this Windows 10 app?

The idea is that it can provide a seamless connection between your smartphone and your PC, allowing them to exchange data and information quickly, efficiently and easily. The goal in the long term is that you’ll be able to get your smartphone notifications on your PC, push pictures from your computer to your phone, and do all sorts of other things.

The reality with Your Phone, however, is currently much more limited than that. First, you’ll need an Android 7.0+ smartphone, as there is currently no support for iPhone at all. Second, while they hope to let you send links, answer texts, and do all sorts of other things, none of that is working right now. Instead, what you can do is drag and drop photos from your phone to your PC.

If you’re interested in trying it out, try installing the Your Phone app via the Microsoft Store on your Windows 10 PC. It’ll run you through the setup, including installing and setting up the corresponding configuration on your smartphone.