Troubleshooting the Your Phone app

Data syncing and connectivity issues

To keep your devices synced, your Windows PC and Android device need to be on, connected to the Internet, and we recommend having Battery saver turned Off (it may interfere with important notifications for the app).

Yes, you can use your mobile data to sync with your PC. However, if you’re concerned about the effect on your data allowance, we recommend remaining on a Wi-Fi connection.

On your Android device:

Open the Your Phone Companion app.

Select Sync over mobile data.

Turn this option On.

To ensure the fastest, most reliable connection, your Android device and PC must be connected to the same trusted Wi-FI network. This optimization isn’t possible on a public connection—for example, in a coffee shop, hotel, or airport.

When you first connect to a Wi-Fi network through Windows 10, you’ll be prompted to set it as public or private (trusted). You can also change it at any time.

These changes might not always be possible—for example, if your workplace controls your network connection.

Before we begin to change settings, we recommend quickly running through the following checks:

Double-check you’re using the same Microsoft account to sign in to both the Your Phone app and the companion app on your Android device.

Ensure Battery saver isn’t running on your PC or Android device, as this might affect connectivity.

You have an active Wi-Fi connection. Can you open your browser and navigate to your favorite website?

For some Android devices, your Battery Optimization settings may interrupt your connection. We recommend turning it off for the companion app on your Android device (either Your Phone Companion or Link to Windows). Here’s how to turn it off based on which companion app you have:

If you have Your Phone Companion*:

Open Android Settings > Apps & notifications > App info > Your Phone Companion > Advanced > Battery > Manage Battery Usage > Battery optimization. Scroll down to Your Phone Companion and select Don’t optimize.

If you have Link to Windows*:

Open Android Settings > Apps > Link to Windows Service > Battery > Optimize battery usage. Select All from the drop-down list, scroll to find Link to Windows service, and turn the toggle Off.

*Note: These steps may vary based on your Android device model.

Still not working? Continue with the following troubleshooting advice.

Check if the Your Phone app can run in the background.

Select Start (or press the Windows logo key on your keyboard), then select Settings > Privacy > Background apps.

In the list Choose which apps can run in the background, ensure Your Phone is enabled.

Ensure nothing is stopping you from sharing across devices.

Select Start (or press the Windows logo key on your keyboard), then select Settings > System > Shared experiences.

If you see Fix now in Accounts, select it and follow the instructions.

On your Android device:

Make sure you can receive app notifications.

Go to your Android device Settings > Apps (or Apps & Notification on some devices) > Your Phone Companion and check that notifications are enabled.

Make sure Do not disturb is turned Off.

Go to your Android device Settings > Sounds (on some devices this may be Sounds & Vibration or Sounds & Notifications) and check that Do not disturb is turned Off.

If you’re still having trouble, follow the steps to unlink your Android device.

If both of your devices are using the same Wi-Fi network but you still see an error message, this could be caused by a setting on your router.

Many routers have a Wireless isolation feature that allows you to lock down the network. If this Wireless Isolation (or AP Isolation) is enabled, then all devices connected to the Wi-Fi network will be blocked from communicating with other.

To disable Wireless/AP Isolation:

On most routers look for the Wireless > Advanced Wireless Setting, and uncheck/toggle AP Isolation.

Updates

Updates will be installed automatically if this option is enabled on your Android device/PC. To ensure a smooth experience to we recommend updating to the latest version where available. Before doing this, ensure both your Android device and PC are connected to Wi-Fi.

On your Android device:

Open the Your Phone Companion app.

Tap Check for Updates.

Wait for the update to complete successfully, then close and reopen the Your Phone app.

Open the Microsoft Store.

Search for Your Phone.

If an update is available to you, you will see an Update button. Select Update and wait for the update to complete successfully, then select Launch.

You can also try this:

Open the Microsoft Store.

Select More … (located next to your Microsoft account picture).

Select Downloads and Updates.

If a Your Phone update is available, you will see an Update button. Select Update and wait for the update to complete successfully, then select Launch.

Note: It can take a few minutes for the updates to be recognized by the app. If the Your Phone app is still in an “update state,» wait a few minutes, then restart your Android device. On your PC, close and reopen the Your Phone app.

After updating to Android 10, if you are unable to launch permissions for features (notifications, messages, photos) please complete the following steps:

To get photos and messages working:

Go to Settings on your Android device.

Search for App Info and tap on it.

Tap on See all apps.

Find Your Phone Companion and tap on it.

Tap on Permissions and allow the following:

To get notifications working:

Go to Settings on your Android device.

Search for “ Notification access.”

Find Your Phone Companion in the list and tap to toggle off/on.

A pop-up will appear; select Allow when prompted.

Troubleshooting features in the Your Phone app

If you’re looking for troubleshooting for a specific feature in the Your Phone app, find it in the list below:

How do I check I’m using the same Microsoft account for all my devices?

In order to successfully link your PC and Android device, you should sign in to the same Microsoft account on both. You can check this by following these steps:

Open your browser and visit accounts.microsoft.com/devices/android-ios. Sign in with your Microsoft account.

Check if you Android device is listed under your account information.

On your Android device:

If you have the Your Phone Companion app:

Go to Settings > Accounts.

If you have the Link to Windows app (for select Samsung devices):

Go to Settings > Advanced features > Link to Windows.

Review the email address under Microsoft account.

I’m having issues with the Your Phone app when using Samsung DeX at the same time

Having both the Your Phone app and DeX open may cause issues with both apps. To ensure the best experience, only have one of these apps open at a time.

Why can’t I use the Your Phone app as a non-default user or two phone mode user (available in Korea only)?

You may encounter two phone mode if your mobile provider is in Korea. The Your Phone app does not currently support two phone mode or multiple profiles mode. Please contact your mobile provider to disable two phone mode so you can use the Your Phone app.

If you have multiple profiles on your mobile device, the Your Phone app will only work if your mobile device is set to the default profile.

Provide feedback

We’re still actively working on making the Your Phone experience the best we possibly can and we welcome your ideas and insights.

On your Android device:

Open the Your Phone Companion app or the Link to Windows app, depending on your device.

Select the Provide Feedback option.

Open Your Phone > Settings > Help & Feedback.

Fill out the form with as much detail as you can provide.

Setting up and using phone screen in the Your Phone app

Phone screen allows you to interact with all your favorite Android apps and device content directly on your PC, through a Wi-Fi connection.

To use phone screen, you’ll need:

A PC running Windows 10 October 2018 Update or later. However, we always recommend updating to the latest version available.

To check and update your Windows version, on your PC go to Settings > Updates & Security > Check for update.

To confirm you are running Windows 10 October 2018 Update (or later), on your PC go to Settings > System > About and check your version number under Windows specifications. It should read either 1809 or higher).

Your PC also needs to be using a graphics card (GPU) that supports DirectX11. Learn how to check your version of DirectX

Your Android device and PC must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

You will need to have a supported Android device. Check the list of supported devices to verify yours will work.

Open the Your Phone app and go to Phone screen.

Follow the setup instructions. You may receive a permissions request to access information on your Android device. Allowing these permissions lets the Your Phone app display content from your device.

If you encounter issues while setting up Phone screen, these troubleshooting tips may help.

What devices are supported?

Phone screen is available on Android devices in select markets running Android 9.0 or greater that have Link to Windows installed (for some devices, it may be preinstalled).

Here are some examples of devices that have Link to Windows installed and will work with Phone screen:

Samsung Galaxy Note9 series

Samsung Galaxy S9 series

Samsung Galaxy Note10 series

Samsung Galaxy S10 series

Samsung Galaxy S20 series

Samsung Galaxy Note20 series

Samsung Galaxy Fold

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

How do I interact with Phone screen?

You can use your PC’s mouse, trackpad, keyboard, or touch-enabled screen to open, type, scroll, and interact with apps.

Tips for interacting using mouse and keyboard:

Single click will behave as any single touch tap interaction

Right click anywhere on your Android device screen to navigate to the previous page

Click and hold to open a context menu

Click and hold and drag for text selection

Mouse scroll to move screen vertically

Some games and apps might not respond to interactions from a mouse or keyboard connected to your PC. You’ll need to use a touch-enabled PC to interact with them.

For your Surface Duo:

Gestures such as the ones used to navigate back or to the home screen on the device can be replicated with your mouse on your PC by clicking and dragging quickly from the edge of your Android device screen window. If you have trouble replicating them, we recommend turning on 3- button navigation:

You can enable 3-button navigation on your Surface Duo for easier interaction. In your device Settings, go to System > Gestures > System navigation and turn on 3-button navigation.

How do I switch keyboard language or layout?

When you type using your PC’s keyboard the layout and language is controlled by a setting on your Android device for physical keyboards. It won’t be affected by the language of the keyboard you’re using on your PC.

You can click on the keyboard language button when you are using the phone screen feature. This will launch the keyboard language settings where you can choose the language of your preference.

When you are using a physical keyboard with the Your Phone app, you can also manually change your language or layout settings at any time.

On your Android device:

Open your Settings > General Management > Language and input.

If you have a Surface Duo, go to Settings > System instead.

Under keyboards, tap Physical keyboard.

Select the keyboard that you’re using on your Android device (E.g. SwiftKey, Microsoft Virtual Keyboard, or Samsung Keyboard).

Choose a language or layout.

You’ll need to change this setting whenever you want to type using another layout or language.

Tip: When using Phone screen, if you have multiple languages or layouts added, you can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Space to switch languages.

Why has my device’s screen turned off while using phone screen?

We provide you with the option to have your Android phone screen turn black while connected in phone screen. In this state, your screen will appear to be off—this is to protect the privacy of your personal phone content and minimize battery consumption.

How to interact with the black screen

There are several ways you can dismiss the black screen if you need to interact directly with your Android phone:

Press the power button

Swipe your device screen

However, if you receive a call while the black screen is active, your screen will appear as normal.

How to disable the black screen

If you’d like to use phone screen without the black screen showing, follow the steps below.

In the Your Phone app, open Settings.

In the Phone screen section, find the option to “Hide my Android device’s screen while it’s connected to my PC.” Turn this toggle off. You can change this setting at anytime if you’d like the black screen to show again.

Note: This setting is not available for Surface Duo.

Launch the Windows Settings app

Important APIs

Learn how to launch the Windows Settings app. This topic describes the ms-settings: URI scheme. Use this URI scheme to launch the Windows Settings app to specific settings pages.

Launching to the Settings app is an important part of writing a privacy-aware app. If your app can’t access a sensitive resource, we recommend providing the user a convenient link to the privacy settings for that resource. For more info, see Guidelines for privacy-aware apps.

How to launch the Settings app

To launch the Settings app, use the ms-settings: URI scheme as shown in the following examples.

XAML hyperlink control

In this example, a Hyperlink XAML control is used to launch the privacy settings page for the microphone using the ms-settings:privacy-microphone URI.

Calling LaunchUriAsync

Alternatively, your app can call the LaunchUriAsync method to launch the Settings app. This example shows how to launch to the privacy settings page for the camera using the ms-settings:privacy-webcam URI.

The code above launches the privacy settings page for the camera:

For more info about launching URIs, see Launch the default app for a URI.

ms-settings: URI scheme reference

The following sections describe different categories of ms-settings URIs used to open various pages of the Settings app:

Whether a settings page is available varies by Windows SKU. Not all settings page available on Windows 10 for desktop are available on Windows 10 Mobile, and vice-versa. The notes column also captures additional requirements that must be met for a page to be available.

Accounts

Settings page	URI
Access work or school	ms-settings:workplace
Email & app accounts	ms-settings:emailandaccounts
Family & other people	ms-settings:otherusers
Set up a kiosk	ms-settings:assignedaccess
Sign-in options	ms-settings:signinoptions ms-settings:signinoptions-dynamiclock
Sync your settings	ms-settings:sync
Windows Hello setup	ms-settings:signinoptions-launchfaceenrollment ms-settings:signinoptions-launchfingerprintenrollment
Your info	ms-settings:yourinfo

Settings page	URI
Apps & Features	ms-settings:appsfeatures
App features	ms-settings:appsfeatures-app (Reset, manage add-on & downloadable content, etc. for the app)
Apps for websites	ms-settings:appsforwebsites
Default apps	ms-settings:defaultapps
Manage optional features	ms-settings:optionalfeatures
Offline Maps	ms-settings:maps ms-settings:maps-downloadmaps (Download maps)
Startup apps	ms-settings:startupapps
Video playback	ms-settings:videoplayback

Cortana

Settings page	URI
Cortana across my devices	ms-settings:cortana-notifications
More details	ms-settings:cortana-moredetails
Permissions & History	ms-settings:cortana-permissions
Searching Windows	ms-settings:cortana-windowssearch
Talk to Cortana	ms-settings:cortana-language ms-settings:cortana ms-settings:cortana-talktocortana

This Settings section on desktop will be called Search when the PC is set to regions where Cortana is not currently available or Cortana has been disabled. Cortana-specific pages (Cortana across my devices, and Talk to Cortana) will not be listed in this case.

Devices

Settings page	URI
AutoPlay	ms-settings:autoplay
Bluetooth	ms-settings:bluetooth
Connected Devices	ms-settings:connecteddevices
Default camera	ms-settings:camera (Deprecated in Windows 10, version 1809 and later)
Mouse & touchpad	ms-settings:mousetouchpad (touchpad settings only available on devices that have a touchpad)
Pen & Windows Ink	ms-settings:pen
Printers & scanners	ms-settings:printers
Touchpad	ms-settings:devices-touchpad (only available if touchpad hardware is present)
Typing	ms-settings:typing
USB	ms-settings:usb
Wheel	ms-settings:wheel (only available if Dial is paired)
Your phone	ms-settings:mobile-devices

Ease of access

Settings page	URI
Audio	ms-settings:easeofaccess-audio
Closed captions	ms-settings:easeofaccess-closedcaptioning
Color filters	ms-settings:easeofaccess-colorfilter
Cursor & pointer size	ms-settings:easeofaccess-cursorandpointersize
Display	ms-settings:easeofaccess-display
Eye control	ms-settings:easeofaccess-eyecontrol
Fonts	ms-settings:fonts
High contrast	ms-settings:easeofaccess-highcontrast
Keyboard	ms-settings:easeofaccess-keyboard
Magnifier	ms-settings:easeofaccess-magnifier
Mouse	ms-settings:easeofaccess-mouse
Narrator	ms-settings:easeofaccess-narrator
Other options	ms-settings:easeofaccess-otheroptions (Deprecated in Windows 10, version 1809 and later)
Speech	ms-settings:easeofaccess-speechrecognition

Extras

Settings page	URI
Extras	ms-settings:extras (only available if «settings apps» are installed, for example, by a 3rd party)

Gaming

Settings page	URI
Broadcasting	ms-settings:gaming-broadcasting
Game bar	ms-settings:gaming-gamebar
Game DVR	ms-settings:gaming-gamedvr
Game Mode	ms-settings:gaming-gamemode
Playing a game full screen	ms-settings:quietmomentsgame
TruePlay	ms-settings:gaming-trueplay (As of Windows 10, version 1809 (10.0; Build 17763), this feature is removed from Windows)
Xbox Networking	ms-settings:gaming-xboxnetworking

Home page

Settings page	URI
Settings home page	ms-settings:

Mixed reality

These settings are only available if the Mixed Reality Portal app is installed.