Windows 11’s Start Menu finally embraces your iPhone
Bringing together Windows and the Apple iPhone has been an agonizing journey. Microsoft is taking another step to connect the two, providing a consistent UI and file sharing between the two platforms via the Start menu.
Microsoft already includes an app called Phone Link within Windows, which is a surprisingly powerful way to connect Windows with Android phones. But Apple’s reluctance to open its platform has meant that iPhone owners don’t enjoy the same benefits. Connecting Windows’ Phone Link to Apple’s iMessage, for example, requires some fiddling and caveats.
With this new update, Microsoft is heading in a slightly different direction. Last June, Microsoft began testing a floating sidebar to the Windows 11 Start menu, where Android users could see a “dashboard” of their phone’s priorities: battery life, recent events (like a call or message) and quick links to Phone Link’s features like calls or photos. iPhones, of course, were excluded. Now they’re not.
The new update, which Microsoft is testing via both its Dev and Beta channels, basically puts Android phones and iPhones on a more equal footing, and adds a few new features: an easier and consistent setup process for both iPhones and Android phones, a consistent UI between the two platforms, and file sharing back and forth between Android/iPhones and Windows.
Microsoft is pushing a consistent UI and setup process for connecting to your phone to your Windows PC via Start.Microsoft
The last feature is important because iPhones still need a workaround: while the floating Start sidebar allows Android users to access their phones’ chats, calls, and photos, that last bit is excluded from the iPhone menu. However, file sharing basically adds that feature back in; it’s just more of a manual process.
Right now, this isn’t available to mainstream users, or what Microsoft calls the Stable Channel. Instead, you still need to be willing to join Windows’ Insider program, and specifically run either Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 4805 and higher in Beta Channel or 26120.3000 and higher in the Dev channel. You also need a phone that you can sign in with a Microsoft account and download the Phone Link app, with version 1.24121.30.0 or higher.
My everyday PC remains on the Stable Channel. Although I use an Android phone rather than an iPhone with Phone Link, I find Phone Link to be surprisingly useful — even though Intel took a run at Phone link with its Unison software. I haven’t heard anything about Unison for months now, however, while Microsoft continues developing Phone Link. Hurray for competition!
A closeup of the iPhone sidebar within Start.Microsoft