phone link

By ming, 16 May, 2023

Forum
Windows

well,
support of the Microsoft Phone Link app is now available to all Windows 11 users. This feature was initially released in preview version in March and has gradually been pushed to general users since last month. Microsoft estimated that everyone would be able to use this new feature by mid-May, so timing seems to have worked out just right.

The Android support of Phone Link has been online since 2015, but only now supports iPhone phones, providing sync support for calls, contacts, messages, and some iMessage. However, compared to Android phones, iPhone support still has some limitations, such as being unable to send images or videos through iMessage, cannot send voice messages, and cannot join group chats. Nevertheless, at least in the office environment, it is still convenient to be able to see messages or answer calls without having to look down.

To activate it, first find the Phone Link app, select iPhone as the device type, and then use your phone's camera to scan the QR code displayed on the Phone Link app. After that, the device will connect via Bluetooth and, after confirming both sides' permission, should be able to be used. This feature supports all iPhone models above iOS 14.0.
anyone of you try it yet?
and does it work with sscreen reader?

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Comments

By Andy Lane on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 09:07

Yep it works reasonably well with JAWS. Not perfect but definitely usable. It was kind of amusing to get my phone notifications on my Windows laptop, it prompted me to realise how utterly rediculous the amount of notifications had become. For some reason I just accept my phone dinging and bonging every few minutes, maybe like the frog boiled slowly but when they all started coming in on my laptop I realised something had to be done about getting rid of a lot of them.

By Dominic on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 09:10

I have an Acer laptop that runs Windows 11. If I can get it into the recovery mode and reset it, and use my own Microsoft account, I can use phone link perfectly! Now, time to go back to figuring out why my computer won’t get into recovery mode in the first place.
But I use NVDA.

By miguel3025 on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 10:16

Hello!
I have already tried phone link, but I preferred using it on Android because it didn't require turning on Bluetooth to receive notifications, saving battery and time. My experiences with Android were not the best, which is why I don't use it in this case. It is much more intuitive to check notifications now.
Best regards.

By David Lai on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 - 04:48

I have an iPhone, and so far I've enjoyed calling people on my computer. However, I've also discovered that VoiceOver also was transfered to my PC. One thing I'm still trying to discover is, is it using my laptop's microphone or that on my phone? But loving this feature so far.

By David Lai on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 - 12:15

I was testing different use cases with my friend. I was able to first start a FaceTime audio call and transfer the call to my PC. Then it started using my laptop microphone as the main audio input source. I believe you can't make the PC start a FaceTime call, though, but I could be mistaken.

By ming on Friday, May 26, 2023 - 11:23

well,
I am trying to connect my IPhone 12 to my windows pc with phone link
bI have download that app and scan the QR code.
but, it said connecting. Afterwards
and nothing hapen...
what can I do?

By Justin Harris on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 - 22:34

Sorry to bump an old post, but I'm trying to get this working and having quite the time. Notifications all work, and messages kinda work. I can send one, but if I shift tab to read conversation history, the whole thing freezes up. And haven't been able to test calls yet. Anyone know if there are any shortcut keys to answer, hang up, etc?
On Android the phone link works really well, but on iPhone, still to be determined.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 07:29

I will have to double check next time someone calls me, but maybe something like 'Enter' for answering calls, and Escape for declining them?

Otherwise I have yet to actually learn any hotkeys for this. 🤷

By Cowboy on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - 13:01

Justin, I am having the same problem reading messages. Did you find a solution?

As far as answering calls goes, if you're using Jaws 2024, you can answer a call from wherever you happen to be. Press Alt Windows c and it gives you an option to answer calls on Phone Link, Teams, and Skype. you can choose which one appears first on the list. When you want to end a call, there is an end call button in the app.

By Justin Harris on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - 14:54

Ah, this is good to know. Actually, no, no luck with the crashing yet. And, come to find out, the entire message history is not synced, so only received messages plus messages actually sent via phone link show up, which is rather annoying. I actually just got rid of it.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 - 05:30

It is not connected in any way to iCloud, so yeah, no real history save for what the app creates as you remain connected to it via Bluetooth. ☹

By Justin Harris on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 - 13:01

Just wondering if there might be any alternative software out there that would work. With rcs coming in iOS 18, it would be absolutely amazing if we could use Google messages on the web. When on Android, I used it a ton, and I actually liked it more than iMessage on the mac. Would be nice if Apple would give us iMessage for web. Don't see it happening though. But if the rcs means we could use Google's version, that would be really awesome.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 - 13:50

Apple's iMessage for PC? 😇

By Cowboy on Thursday, July 18, 2024 - 02:38

The best alternative I've found is Intel Unison. It's far from perfect. I've found I have to use JAWS's invisable cursor to read text messages, and I can't make calls with it because I'm using a bluetooth headset. It does allow me to read notifications and share files between my computer and my phone.

In regard to one of your previous questions, it only shows messages that were received while the phone was connected to the computer, and I don't think it archives them.