Mobile devices help & learning

Move seamlessly between your phone and your PC

Your device. We’ll help you find the optimal setup for your Android or iPhone.

Your apps. Link up Office, Outlook, and other apps that connect your phone to your PC.

Your stuff. Learn how to make switching between your devices a little less complicated.

Microsoft and Samsung—a partnership for your productivity

Learn how to connect your Samsung Galaxy or other Android device to your PC so you can make calls, respond to texts, sync your photos, and use your favorite mobile apps all in one place.

Set up the Office apps and Outlook on iOS devices

Download the iPhone or iPad apps, and then follow our step-by-step guidelines to configure you personal, work, or school accounts.

Get more done with Surface Duo

Use two screens to stay more connected and productive, wherever you are.

The best of Microsoft on mobile

Get the mobile Office app that combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single app.

Manage your busy life from anywhere with email, calendar, meetings, reminders, and more.

Capture your thoughts and ideas on the go, and easily recall and share them on your PC.

Microsoft To Do

Focus on what matters. Manage your tasks from anywhere—at home, at work, and on the go.

Your Phone for Android

Respond to text messages, make calls, and use your favorite mobile apps—right from your PC.

Customize your Android phone’s home screen and stay organized with your personalized feed.

Save your files and photos to OneDrive and get them from any device, anywhere.

Microsoft SwiftKey Keyboard

Make typing faster and easier, and enjoy more accurate autocorrect and text predictions.

All About Windows Phone

News, reviews, information and apps for Windows Phone.

Featured Editorial Content

Status report for April 2021: services and apps on Windows 10 Mobile

2021 Smartphone photo storage thoughts

A 2021 ‘PureView’ battle: 808/1020/Pixel/iPhone

Case? Who needs cases?

Camera head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Recent Editorial Content

Camera head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Redmi Note 10 Pro

Last week I pitched the new AMOLED-screened budget Redmi Note 10 Pro, made by Xiaomi, against the IDOL 4 Pro (for its screen and media capabilities) — and the result was almost a complete whitewash. The Redmi Note 10 Pro, at just over £200 inc VAT, is a stunning game changer of a device, specs-wise — but can its camera system beat out an old AAWP favourite? With Xiaomi’s excellent image processing, despite the low price tag, I’m expecting a close run thing.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 12:53, Apr 18th

Head to head: Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro

After the Lumia 950 XL head to head with the flagship Xiaomi Mi 11 in the £700 range, I wanted to match this with a similar comparison feature at the other end of the market, but this time using the media-centric Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro, my favourite Windows-powered phone of the last era in AAWP. The (Xiaomi) Redmi Note 10 Pro is also brand new and usually around the £200 mark, while still offering an impressive (even game changing) spec level, especially against something as relatively old as the Alcatel, though this put up a close fight in some areas, as you’ll see.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 13:07, Apr 15th

‘Piny — Pinterest with love’ UWP updated for 2021

A full four years ago I looked at a fledgling UWP Pinterest client for Windows 10 Mobile — and, believe it or not, it’s still being updated, with the latest in the last few days. The developers, Chococode, are one of the last active UWP app developers compiling for Windows 10 Mobile, so credit to them. Piny UWP is now £4 if you want to zap the ads, so it’s slightly pricier than it was originally, but heck, at this stage in Windows 10 Mobile’s existence, it’s worth showering active developers in beer, so buying them a pint in this case is money well spent, I contend.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 06:47, Apr 13th

Smartphone wired audio/DACs. (2021 update)

Minor apologies for two quick updates to this ‘reference’ article in a few days, but I’ve added the rather excellent Samsung Type C to 3.5mm DAC/dongle, plus made numerous extra tweaks to the table, including quoting maximum sample rates and resolution where known. Here I look at wired audio quality from smartphone 3.5mm jacks (where they have one) and from add-on, plug-in DACs/dongles (where digital output is the only wired way forwards). Worth bookmarking, hopefully, and coming back to later in 2021, since I’ll keep updating it as needed.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 17:47, Apr 11th

LG Mobile officially shuts down, ends 15 years in smartphones

Starting off (in the smartphone world) with Series 60 (on Symbian) handsets, transitioning through Windows Phone 7.x phones, and ending up on Android, LG has officially closed its Mobile division, with the short statement quoted below. It’s been a rocky road for LG, but even back in the mid 2000s at the Symbian shows, I never really felt their heart was in it, at least in terms of selling to — and supporting — the West. Some thoughts and a few looks back below.

# Posted by Steve in News || Comments 10:31, Apr 5th

Review: Apple/Cubilux: a tale of two Type C DAC/dongles.

Yes, yes, it’s a confusing situation. I blame Apple, for taking away the 3.5mm headphone jack from their flagships (to boost sales of their new AirPods) and then I blame other companies for copying Apple. Happily, most phones under about £400 still come with jacks, but for anyone wanting an Android flagship for the last two years and who isn’t all-in on Bluetooth, some way of getting wired audio out of a Type C jack is worth researching. Online, you can get ‘adapters’ from £1 to £100, which means that you might like some guidance from AAWP. Here, I test two candidates and am blown away by one in particular!

# Posted by Steve in Reviews || Comments 17:21, Apr 1st

Status report for April 2021: services and apps on Windows 10 Mobile

Here, for April 2021, is the refreshed/latest news and comment on applications and services on Windows 10 Mobile — the OS itself has now had its very last security update, but it still works on the whole. This feature will summarise what’s broken and what’s not, along with workarounds where possible. Details and links have all been updated throughout. Note that I’ve kept the URL the same, so the last nine months of comments are all still here.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 16:53, Mar 31st

Netflix and Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile. lives again!

A year ago, Netflix stopped working on all Windows-powered phones — the fear was that this was a conscious decision by Netflix to axe streams to specific platforms. In fact, it turns out that something was just ‘broken’. And clearly the broken bit affected enough customers on enough legacy platforms that Netflix’s engineers tracked down the bug and fixed it — Netflix works again on Windows 10 Mobile!*

# Posted by Steve in News || Comments 14:46, Mar 30th

Camera head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Xiaomi Mi 11 5G

Xiaomi is now no. 2 in Europe by some metrics in the smartphone world and it’s easy to see why, with great value, high spec handsets — and, to my delight, with good image processing in their cameras. And now we have the first of the next generation Xiaomi flagships, the Mi 11, currently £650 inc VAT on Amazon UK. So not cheap, but also not crazy Samsung or iPhone flagship pricing. Last week I looked at overall specs, here I test out the Mi 11’s imaging against the usual staple, the Lumia 950 XL.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 06:41, Mar 29th

Head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Xiaomi Mi 11 5G

Another year, another Xiaomi flagship, good value for money compared to the Samsungs and OnePlus of this world. Except that there are several variants, two of which have yet to be announced (next week should see the ‘Pro’ and ‘Ultimate’). Regardless, I have the standard Xiaomi Mi 11 5G in hand and here I do a head-to-head against my standard benchmark device (for AAWP), the Lumia 950 XL. Imaging is next, don’t worry.

# Posted by Steve in Features || Comments 07:29, Mar 26th

How Windows 10 Works With Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone

Microsoft brings OneDrive to iOS and Android

In 2018, Microsoft launched the Universal Windows Platform so that Windows apps would look and run identically on any device, whether it’s a desktop PC or a Windows Phone. This update, along with the OneDrive app, makes it possible to sync Windows 10 with your iPhone or Android smartphone.

Information in this article applies to most Android, iOS, and Windows smartphones.

Windows 10 Your Phone App for iOS and Android

Microsoft’s Your Phone app for Windows 10 (formerly known as Phone Companion) is designed to help you connect and set up your Windows phone (now discontinued), Android phone, or iPhone to Windows. It installs Microsoft apps that keep your phone and your PC in sync including:

• OneDrive
• Microsoft Office
• Outlook
• Skype
• Microsoft Photos

With the Your Phone app, not only can you access Windows 10 apps from your phone, but you can also read text messages and make calls on your computer.

Microsoft OneDrive for iOS and Android

OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service. Your OneDrive is tied to your Microsoft account, and it automatically saves your photos, music, and other files remotely so that you can access them on any device. OneDrive users get 5G of free storage, but a subscription to Microsoft 365 comes with 1TB of storage for up to five users.

OneDrive is also available for Amazon Fire tablets.

For example, once you set up the Your Phone app and OneDrive on your iOS and Android phone, any changes you make to a Microsoft Word document will instantly take effect across all platforms. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about manually transferring files or accidentally saving over your work. Photos you take with your phone will also appear on your Windows 10 PC.

Balance work and family

See how multitasking parents use Windows 10 to get it all done.

Stay connected

See how professionals work effectively in a remote world.

Create. Teach. Learn.

See how you can share your craft in a remote world.

Home & family resources

Discover free Microsoft tools, tips, and resources that can help you connect, work, learn, and play at home.

You can count on Windows 10

People all over the world depend on Windows 10 for many different reasons. Here are a handful of things we’re proud to keep on delivering.

Get things done

Windows 10 has innovations from touch screen 2 support to features that help you focus and create.

All-encompassing security included

Windows 10 comes with a comprehensive suite of antivirus, firewall, ransomware protection, and Internet features, built-in with no extra cost to you. 1

New games for family night

There’s a wide variety of games available on Windows 10—the most popular PC gaming platform on the planet. 3

Windows 10 for each of us

Whether you have a disability, a personal preference, or a unique work style, Windows 10 adapts to you.

Need a larger screen? A brighter screen? A narrator to read text? Find out about accessibility tools and features for people who are blind, color blind, or have low vision.

For those who are hard of hearing, have hearing loss, or have deafness, our specialized features can provide solutions including closed captioning, mono sound, and live call transcription.

Innovative tools such as dictation and Windows Hello sign-in can make the digital world more accessible for those who live with dyslexia, seizures, autism, or other cognitive differences.

Our applications for people living with learning disabilities can help increase focus, concentration, and understanding—and include tools to improve reading and writing skills.

Our suite of products helps people living with arthritis, quadriplegia, spinal cord injuries, and other mobility issues to navigate the digital world in non-traditional ways.

Unlock the best Microsoft 365 has to offer! Now with added benefits from Microsoft partners.

As a benefit of your subscription, access over $500 in unique offers available from our partners.

Bring your ideas to life

Choose from thousands of curated stock images, icons, and fonts to add your own flair quickly and beautifully.

Organize your time

Manage multiple calendars in one view, sort through emails quickly with Focused Inbox, and use Suggested Replies to instantly hit send and move on.

Sharing made simple

Share OneDrive documents from your PC or mobile device and let friends, classmates, or family view, make suggestions, edit, or collaborate in real time.

Protect what’s important

Get 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. That’s 300,000 photos, plus all your documents, 4 that you can access, edit, and share across all your devices—all while knowing your files are backed up and protected.

Thousands of apps

Work, play, create, stream, meet, share, and more with thousands of trusted apps from the Microsoft Store. All of them have been scanned for malware, so you can download anything worry-free. 5

Compare Windows 10 Home vs. Pro

Find the right fit for your needs. Whether it’s Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, see which version is better for you.

The best Windows ever keeps getting better

Windows 10 is fundamentally fast and familiar, safe and secure, and has features that allow you to be more creative and productive.

Windows 10 Pro works for you

If you run a small business and want enhanced functionality, Windows 10 Pro is designed for how you work.

Make the switch to a Windows 10 PC

Powerful productivity. Great battery life. Long lasting. And a beautiful touch screen to boot. 2

Find the computer that’s best for you

Now more than ever PCs are more powerful and innovative—just like Windows 10. And no matter your budget or need, there are plenty to choose from.

Need help choosing a computer?

We’re here to help! Answer a few questions and find the right Windows 10 computers for you.