- Microsoft rolls out new features for the Link to Windows app
- It now allows Android users to lock their Windows 11 PC remotely
- Other new features include sharing clipboard contents (images or text), mirroring phone screen to desktop, and much more.
Windows 11 users who have connected their Android smartphone to the operating system can now benefit from some exciting new features, including the ability to lock their PC remotely with their phone.
Windows Latest reports that starting from the second week of December, Microsoft is rolling out these new features and you can get them by updating the Link to Windows Android app to the latest version.
This introduces a big “Lock PC” button on the Android device, which, when pressed, does just that, locking your Windows 11 system even if you’re not near it. Windows Latest observes that this happens in just a few seconds, so quite quickly.
There are new buttons for sending a file from your phone to PC and mirroring your phone screen to the desktop. You can also send files from the Windows 11 PC to the Android handset and freely share clipboard contents between the two devices (which includes images as well as text you’ve copied).
In addition to this, there is a recent activity panel that contains all recently shared files or links, so you can see them at a glance.
The Android app now also shows some key details about your PC (which are updated in real time, more or less – every minute or so). These are battery level (for laptops) and Wi-Fi signal strength, which might be useful to know.
How to get these nifty new abilities
This significantly expands the Link to Windows app for Android, and is a huge step forward for those using it in conjunction with the Phone Link app on PC. The ability to easily share clipboard contents and this PC lock feature are the main highlights here. It’s also convenient to have screen mirroring at your fingertips at the touch of a button.
We had seen this feature before in testing, and it was present in a beta rollout last month, but now we would have the full upgrade rolling out to all Phone Link users. If you want to benefit from them, update your Link to Windows application now, although it may still take a little time for these new benefits to arrive, as always with any new feature rollout.
To check for updates for the Android app, as per Microsoft’s instructions, go to your phone’s Settings panel and go to Advanced Featuresthen press Link to Windows. Select the ellipsis (three dots) in the upper right corner and press About the link to Windowswhere you can check for updates and install one if available.
If you haven’t yet gotten started with Phone Link for Windows 11 (and Link to Windows) and would like to do so, we have an explanation on how to get started. It’s not difficult to set up, and there are some surprisingly powerful cross-device features (with Phone Link now also having its own side panel in the Start menu).
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