Microsoft is adding new remote features to manage your Windows PC from your Android phone

Microsoft is adding some new features to the Link to Windows app. This will allow you to manage your Windows PC from your Android phone.

Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman writes that a user on the Dev Channel of Windows 11 was able to test a new toggle called "Access PC's Clipboard", which lets users copy/send images and text from their PC to their Android phone, using the Phone Link / Link to Windows app.

But it appears to be a one-way sync, i.e. you can't access your phone's clipboard on Windows 11. According to the report, another user was able to view a list of items that had been stored on their PC's clipboard, aka Clipboard History.

There's also a new button in the app that says Lock PC, which you can click on to lock your Windows PC remotely. Since this does not rely on Bluetooth, you can lock the PC from anywhere. This option is only available if "Remote PC Controls" are enabled in the Windows Mobile Devices section in the Settings app. You can find it under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices > Manage devices.

Windows Central's Zac Bowden also reports that the "Lock PC" button is available as part of a recent update to the Link to Windows app. The update also adds a few more options, including the ability to share files and photos from phone to PC, and cast the phone's screen to PC. Technically, you could already send files from PC to phone and vice versa, but the new implementation seems to be simplified. The new features are available in version Link To Windows 1.25071.165 or newer, and appear to be rolling out to users.  The iOS version of Link to Windows already supports sending files from iPhone to PC, but not the other features, it is unclear whether the options would be added to the iOS app.

I'm going to once again recommend using Local Send, KDE Connect, if you want to share files between your Windows PC/ Linux/ Mac/Android/iOS. Both apps are free, open source, don't require an account.

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