Previously, we covered a new Windows 10 Your Phone update that lets you run Android apps on your PC. Back then, only beta testers could get this update. However, Microsoft has now made this feature available to everyone.
The public release of the Your Phone update was announced on the Windows Blogs website. All of the features from the beta, such as pinning apps to your taskbar and getting app badge notifications on your PC, have been carried over.
In the post, Microsoft explains what you need in order to use this new feature of Your Phone:
[A] PC running Windows 10 October 2018 Update or later. However, we always recommend updating to the latest version of Windows 10.
Your Phone app (1.20071.88) and Link to Windows (2.0).
Available on select Android phones running Android 9.0 or greater with the Link to Windows integration.
Phone and PC must be on the same Wi-Fi network.
You may have noticed that the requirements specify that only “select Android phones” can use this new feature. Fortunately, Microsoft has published a list of compatible phones on the Microsoft Support website.
At the time of writing, the compatibility list only contains Samsung Galaxy devices, including the new Samsung Galaxy S20 and the Z Flip.
This is no surprise, as we saw how closely Microsoft and Samsung are working during this year’s Galaxy Unpacked presentation. If you missed it, we covered the biggest announcements from Galaxy Unpacked.
If you do have a compatible Samsung Galaxy phone, you may not see this feature right away. Microsoft states in the post that this update is being rolled out gradually, meaning you may need to wait a while until your computer receives the new Your Phone experience.
While it’s only compatible with Samsung Galaxy devices, the new Your Phone experience lets you run Android apps on your PC. Hopefully, this feature will roll out to other manufacturer’s devices in the future.
Still, if you do own a Samsung device, you may be interested to know that you can now find your lost phone even if it’s offline.