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WINDOWS 11

By Lance Whitney • Comment about this article

Phone Link pairs your iPhone or Android phone with Windows, but it doesn’t always cooperate. Here’s how to fix technical troubles that may pop up in the process.

I often use Microsoft’s Phone Link to sync my iPhone and Android phone with Windows so I can access mobile calls, messages, contacts, and photos from my phone directly on my PC. I especially like to write and answer texts using my desktop keyboard and mouse rather than my phone’s tiny virtual keys. But Phone Link can sometimes misbehave.

Over the years, I’ve bumped into a few hiccups trying to set up or use the tool. Sometimes Phone Link fails to recognize or pair with my phone. Sometimes the pairing works, but I can’t access certain content from my phone. Other times, I’m unable to remove an old phone from Phone Link, a known problem with Android devices.

Whatever the issue, I usually find a way to fix it, if only through trial and error. Based on my experiences, here are some of the common snafus that may crop up with Phone Link — and how to resolve them.

If you haven’t already tried Phone Link, I wrote How to link your smartphone with Windows 11 in February 2024, explaining how to use it with an iPhone or Android phone. At the time, the iPhone linking worked only in Windows 11. Since then, Microsoft has enhanced Phone Link so that you can use it with either type of phone in Windows 10 or 11.

For this article, I’m working with Phone Link in Windows 11, but the features and the pitfalls are similar in both versions of the OS. I also typically pair my main iPhone and one of my Android phones so I can access both from my PC. Between the two types of phones, the basic features in Phone Link are similar. I can make and receive phone calls and texts on both. But with an Android phone, I can also view and work with photos stored on my phone.

I’ve also bumped into problems in Phone Link that affected one type of phone but not the other. In general, iPhones are easier to set up and manage than Android phones, but both can prove challenging.

Before you get started, make sure you’re running the latest version of the Phone Link app on your PC and the Link to Windows app on your mobile device.

On your Windows 11 PC, Phone Link should appear in Start | All under P. If not, download and install it from its Microsoft Store page. To update it if it’s already installed, open the Microsoft Store app, click the Downloads icon, and then select the Get Updates button. You’ll receive the latest updates for all your Microsoft Store apps, including Phone Link.

The setup process for Phone Link prompts you to download the Link to the Windows mobile app for your iPhone or Android device. But I like to install it ahead of time. To do this, head to the App Store to download the app for iOS, and to Google Play to download it for Android.

The first obstacle you may encounter is simply pairing your phone with your PC. This step relies on Bluetooth, a technology that can be ornery. If you receive any pairing errors during this initial phase, or if the devices just won’t connect, here are a few things to check.

Rebooting your PC and restarting your phone seem like obvious steps that you wouldn’t think would help. But I’ve run into a few pairing issues where restarting one or the other did the trick. So this should be your first move.

After the restart, try again. If the pairing still isn’t working, make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your PC. In Windows 11, go to Settings | Bluetooth & devices and turn on the switch for Bluetooth if it’s off. Even if it’s on, turn it off, wait several seconds, and then turn it on again to refresh it.

Figure 1. Make sure Bluetooth is enabled in Windows, or turn it off and then on again.

Also, make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone. On an iPhone, go to Settings | Bluetooth and turn on the switch. Again, turn it off and then turn it on again to refresh it. On an Android device, just swipe down from the top of the screen to access the Quick Settings options. Tap the icon for Bluetooth to either turn it on or turn it off and then on again.

Figure 2. Ensure that Bluetooth is enabled on your phone. You can also turn it off and then on again.

Here’s another pairing trick. Make sure you’ve downloaded the Link to Windows app on your phone before you kick off the pairing process. Doing so spares you from having to wrestle with that step during the pairing. After you scan the QR code on your PC with an iPhone, tap the Open button to go directly into pairing mode. After scanning the QR code with an Android phone, tap Continue and then enter the code shown on your PC.

Figure 3. On an iPhone or Android phone, download the Link to Windows app ahead of time to ease the pairing process.

And here’s one more trick if you’re still bumping into pairing issues. Remove your phone from Windows, and remove your PC from your phone. To remove your phone from Windows 11, go to Settings | Bluetooth & devices. Click the ellipsis icon and then select Remove device.

Figure 4. You can easily remove an iPhone from Windows if it’s not pairing properly.

One word of warning. I’ve found that I can easily remove an iPhone in Windows, but not an Android phone. That’s because there’s a known bug that prevents you from removing an Android device that’s been added through Phone Link. I know other people have complained of this glitch, so hopefully Microsoft will fix it someday.

To remove your PC from an iPhone, go to Settings | Bluetooth. Select the Info icon from the computer and then select Remove This Device. The process is much trickier on an Android phone, due to the bug that Microsoft has yet to fix. I’ve run into trouble trying to get this to work.

Figure 5: You can remove your PC from an iPhone easily enough, but not so easily from an Android phone.

After pairing your phone with your PC, you should be able to access specific content — phone calls, messages, and contacts on an iPhone, and phone calls, messages, contacts, and photos on an Android phone. After the pairing process is finished, you’ll be prompted to allow your PC to access those specific types of content from your phone. If you bypass that step or fail to complete it, then the content won’t appear.

To fix this issue on an iPhone, go to Settings | Bluetooth and tap the Info icon for your paired PC. Turn on the switch for Show Message Notifications if you wish to see and work with your text messages in Windows. Turn on the switch for Sync Contacts if you want to be able to call or text anyone in your iPhone’s contact list. You can then choose which set of contacts to sync. Finally, turn on the switch for Share System Notifications to receive all types of notifications on your PC.

In my case, I turn on the switches for Message Notifications and Contacts but turn off the switch for System Notifications. I disable the latter option because I don’t want to be bothered by every single notification sent to my phone.

Figure 6: Turn on the switches for any content you wish to access from your phone on your PC.

Next, return to Phone Link, click the Settings icon, and select Devices. Make sure your iPhone is selected, which means the Selected button will be grayed out. Select Features and then turn on the switches for Notifications, Messages, and Calls. Again, in my case, I keep notifications disabled but leave Messages and Calls enabled.

Figure 7: Enable the types of content from an iPhone that you wish to access in Phone Link.

You can also click on the drop-down arrow for each setting you enable, if you wish to fine-tune it. For example, clicking the arrow for Notifications lets you enable or disable certain options, such as showing notification banners on your PC, showing the badge on the taskbar,  and showing notifications when your phone’s battery is low.

Figure 8: You’re able to control specific options for each setting.

To handle all this on an Android device, your best bet is to do it through Phone Link. Click the Settings icon and select Features. Here, you can now turn on Notifications, Messages, Calls, and Photos.

Figure 9: Enable the types of content from an Android phone you wish to access in Phone Link.

Click a specific type of content, and you’re able to tweak certain options — just as with an iPhone. For example, select Messages to enable or disable sending, receiving, and downloading MMS attachments.

Figure 10: On an Android device, you can turn certain options on and off.

Finally, you may want to remove an old phone from Phone Link if you replace it with a different or newer model. That’s easy enough to do with an iPhone, but difficult with Android — again because of a bug.

To try this with an iPhone, simply open Phone Link, click the Settings icon, and select Devices. You should see a three-dot icon next to your iPhone. Click that and select Remove. Click the Remove device button to confirm your action, and the phone disappears from the app. Simple, right?

Figure 11: You can easily remove an iPhone from Phone Link.

With an Android phone, however, you’ll notice that there is no three-dot icon and therefore no clear way to remove it. Some tipsters suggest signing out of your Microsoft account in Phone Link and then signing back in, but that’s never worked for me.

Others advise you to sign in to your Microsoft account on the Web, go to the Android & iOS devices page, and remove the old phone from your account. But when I view that page, no devices appear at all.

Another tip is to try managing your mobile devices in Windows. To do this in Windows 11, go to Settings | Bluetooth & devices | Mobile devices. Click the button for Manage devices. But even here, you can’t remove an Android phone. The best you can do is to disable it, but that still leaves the device visible in Phone Link.

The ability to access your phone in Windows is a handy option, whether you want to work with phone calls, text messages, contacts, or photos. Connecting and pairing your phone is half the battle, and the advice I provided should help both iPhone and Android users.

Managing and removing your phone is another story. That’s easy enough with an iPhone. But it’s difficult, if not impossible, with an Android device. Until Microsoft squashes all the bugs in Phone Link, hopefully the tips I offered will help you combat most of the common problems that may pop up.

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Lance Whitney is a freelance technology reporter and former IT professional. He’s written for CNET, TechRepublic, PC Magazine, and other publications. He’s authored a book on Windows and another about LinkedIn.

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