Configure the connection between Android smartphone and Windows 10 to send and receive SMS on the app “your phone”
A nice new feature of Windows 10, among the best features of the update Windows 10 1809, is the new app “Your phone“, a little ‘hidden, still a partially incomplete, but already fully functional.
With this new application that you can find by searching for “phone” in the Windows 10 Start menu, you can not only read phone text messages, but also send them directly from your computer.
In addition you will find a section to view photos of your phone in Windows 10 without having to download or transfer.
In the future, from this same app, you can also mirror the entire phone screen to view it on your PC screen and view notifications from your phone on your PC.
It should be noted that the app “Your Phone” works only on Android 7 smartphones and later versions and not on iPhone (because Apple does not allow such deep integration by other developers on iOS) and is an evolution of the function to connect the smartphone to the PC with Windows 10 (which also works on iPhone).
To configure the connection between Android smartphone and Windows 10 you need to install the Microsoft application: Your Phone Companion, which is free on the Google Play Store.
Once installed, open it and follow the instructions on the screen.
In Windows 10 you need to open Settings> Phone and activate the connection with your smartphone, so that this appears in the list of connected devices.
This app allows, without doing anything else, to use the phone sharing options to send to the PC web pages, links, photos and other content, by sharing on “Continue on PC“.
To see the SMS messages and pictures of the phone is necessary, however, open the app Your phone that is in the Start menu (by searching it from the search bar).
The application then asks to authorize access to text messages and access to photos to work on the phone.
A notification appears on the Android phone screen where you need to tap the button to grant permission.
Once done, the SMS list is populated with all messages received and you can also send them directly from your computer (always leaving the phone connected).
When you receive a new text message, if the link is active, a notification will appear on your computer.
This function is practically identical to that of the Android Messages site to send and receive SMS messages on a PC.
However, the phone app becomes a powerful tool for text messages, to write text messages with your PC’s keyboard.
From the photo section you can see recent photos taken with the phone, so you can even copy them on your computer (For the moment, however, not + still working).
As mentioned above, Microsoft has also announced future updates to improve this application so you can receive all phone notifications and mirror the screen on your computer, displaying it in a window on the desktop.