Something we never thought would happen actually happened. In the latest update of its Phone Link app for Windows, the tech giant brings support for the Apple iPhone – specifically iMessage for Windows 11.
Accordingly Microsoft’s official blog (opens in new tab) and reported by The edge (opens in new tab)The Phone Link app works by mirroring your phone on your PC for notifications, calls and messages. With this update, iPhone users can now connect their devices to a Windows laptop or PC, send messages through iMessage, make and receive calls, and receive notifications through Windows 11.
In an interview with The Verge, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, explains how it works. “We send the messages back and forth via Bluetooth, and Apple in turn sends them as iMessages as soon as they arrive on their system.”
As impressive as that sounds, there are some setbacks.
Users cannot see the full message history, only those sent or received through Phone Link. You also won’t see blue or green chat bubbles since the system can’t distinguish between a regular text message and an iMessage. Still, this is a surprising and big step in the right direction that could open up even more features and support like photo integration in the future.
If you’re interested in testing this feature, Microsoft is beginning beta testing with a small percentage of Windows Insiders who are in the Dev, Beta, and Release Preview channels. “We’ll be increasing the availability of the preview to more Insiders over time and based on the feedback we’re getting with this initial group of Insiders,” the official blog post.
This new update also includes several other features like AI Bing and chat-based searches in the taskbar, a screen recording feature, better touch optimizations, and more.
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