One of the big features that Samsung showed off at their Galaxy Unpacked event was how they are working with Microsoft to bring the ability to run multiple Android apps side by side with Windows applications on a PC through a new feature called Your Phone. Microsoft has previously announced a Your Phone app which mirrors what is displayed on your phone directly onto your PC, but Samsung will be the first manufacturer making use of this feature.
The feature is only available to certain Windows 10 test users currently with the feature only expected to go live to all other users later this year on the Note 20, with other devices to come later. This new Android app support also allows Windows 10 users to multitask with other Windows apps with alt+tab support, and you’ll even be able to pin these Android apps to the Windows 10 taskbar or Start menu.
Not all Android apps will work seamlessly with this new feature though. Microsoft warns that unsupported apps may block the ability to cast to other screens, producing a black screen instead. Also, some apps and games will also not respond to a keyboard or mouse, and others may play audio from your phone, so there will need to be specific optimisation for different apps to work effectively in this feature. Something which will probably only happen depending on how widely used it ends up being.
Microsoft has a list of all supported Android devices, but it’s literally only Samsung handsets right now
Last Updated: August 13, 2020
