People in the Apple ecosystem swear by how seamlessly all their devices work with each other. Whether it's an iPhone and a Mac or an Apple Watch and an iPhone, all the devices that are a part of the ecosystem effortlessly communicate with each other, resulting in some awesome features like AirDrop, Handoff, etc. While it's definitely a huge selling point for Apple devices, what if I told you that you could replicate similar functionality to a large extent using an Android phone and a Windows PC? That too, without using any third-party apps?

Microsoft's Phone Link app is a native Windows app that comes preinstalled on all Windows 11 machines. Using this app, you can link your smartphone -- an Android device or an iPhone -- to your Windows PC and perform a bunch of tasks between them. In fact, there are several features on Phone Link that weren't available in the Apple Ecosystem until recently. I prefer using an Android smartphone and keep alternating between a Mac and a Windows PC. While I've created my own ecosystem with an Android and a Mac, I resort to using Phone Link every time I'm on a Windows PC. It works seamlessly and drastically improves my workflow since I don't have to pick up my phone for every task. If you're not using it already, I'm certain that you will after reading this article.

What is Microsoft Phone Link?

Phone Link is a native Windows app that allows your smartphone to communicate with your PC. Once you set up Phone Link on your smartphone and computer, the two devices can communicate with each other to perform tasks in tandem. This includes mirroring your phone's notifications on your PC, using your smartphone's apps on your computer, answering calls and texting via the computer, etc.

Think of it as an app that lets you use your PC as an extension of your smartphone. The primary idea is to prevent reaching out to your phone while working every time there's a notification. With Phone Link, you can view your phone's notifications on your PC and determine whether it's really important to check your phone or not. Oftentimes, we end up getting distracted when checking our phones -- resulting in hours of doomscrolling. Phone Link prevents that as you can take action to certain notifications directly from your PC -- so your phone stays in your pocket.

How to set up Microsoft Phone Link on your PC

As mentioned earlier, the app comes preinstalled on all Windows 11 computers. All you have to do is head to the Start menu or any app launcher that you may be using and look for Phone Link. Click on the result or hit the Enter key to launch the app.

Select whether you want to connect an iPhone or an Android device. After that, you will be asked to scan a QR code using your smartphone. Open the camera app on your phone and scan the QR code. Once done, you will be asked to enter a code displayed on your smartphone. Enter it to finish the setup process.

Microsoft Phone Link Features

What can you do with it?

There are a bunch of features on Phone Link that let you take advantage of your smartphone's capabilities on your PC. Here's everything you can do using the service to minimize distractions and avoid using your phone as much as possible.

Notification mirroring

One of the most useful features of Phone Link, in my opinion, is the ability to view your phone's notifications on your PC. It's extremely easy to get distracted by the constant flow of notifications on our phones. With notifications showing up directly on the computer screen, you can determine whether you really need to respond to them. Even if you need to, chances are that you will be able to do it directly from your PC instead of reaching out to your phone.

You will need to grant the smartphone app permission to access your notifications for this feature to work, so keep that in mind. Once you enable it, notifications pop up on your PC just like standard Windows prompts.

Send text messages and make calls from your PC

The reason I said you may be able to respond to most notifications directly from your PC is that Phone Link also allows you to send text messages directly from your PC. When you receive a text, you will see the notification on your computer. Click on it, and you will be redirected to the messaging section on Phone Link. Here, you will be able to type out your response. In fact, you can even initiate new conversations even if you haven't received a text.

Not just messages, but you can even make calls from your smartphone via your PC! Head to the dialer and dial a number, or pick a contact to call. Phone Link asks for permission to access your contacts at the time of setup, so all your phone's contacts are synced automatically.

Along with dialing numbers, you can even receive incoming calls directly on your PC. You will see pop-up notifications for incoming calls. All you have to do is hit Accept to answer them. This drastically reduces the need to check and use your phone while working.

Run apps from your phone on your PC

Let's say you receive a notification from a third-party app like Facebook or Instagram. Well, you can act upon those too, directly from your PC -- thanks to the fact that you can run your phone's apps on your computer via Phone Link. Clicking on a notification opens the corresponding app in a small window, essentially mirroring what you would see on your phone.

Even without a notification, head to the Apps section inside the Phone Link window and click on any app you want to launch. This is useful for using apps that aren't natively available on Windows.

Mirror your phone's screen

If you don't want to use a specific app, you can also mirror your phone's screen onto your PC. This way, you can record your phone's screen on your computer or even stream games onto social media platforms using OBS or other similar software.

The best part is that the mirrored screen is interactive, so you can replicate touch inputs via a mouse and keyboard.

View and transfer photos from your phone

The Phone Link app also has a Photos tab from where you can view all the media on your phone. From here, you can even download photos and videos onto your PC's local storage.

This is a quick and seamless way of transferring photos and videos from your phone to your computer.

Use your phone's hotspot seamlessly

Finally, the feature that I use quite often when using Phone Link on a Windows laptop is Instant Hotspot. When you click on it, the computer automatically triggers the wireless hotspot on your phone and connects to it.

This prevents you from manually enabling the hotspot on your phone every time. Those of you who have used macOS and iOS would know that this is a native feature on those platforms to enable seamless connectivity.

Who said Android and Windows can't form an ecosystem?

Once you start using Phone Link with your phone and PC, you'll realize what you have been missing out on all these years. The way the two devices interact with each other is seamless, resulting in reduced distractions when working. I can say for certain that I've saved a considerable amount of time when working thanks to Phone Link, while also making my workflow smoother.