While Microsoft is still in the process of fixing their October 2018 update, I managed to download it before they pulled it. I did not encounter any issues with the installation process, nor did I lose any files.

Included in the latest update is the Your Phone app. This app lets a user view photos from their phone, as well as send and receive texts from your phone on Windows. While there are apps that already have this functionality, most you either need to pay for, or have ads. I have used MightyText for a few years, but recently it has become more restrictive. You used to be able to send 250 texts a month for free, but now just 125. Windows does not enforce such a limitation.

Setting up the app was easy. I had to download the Your Phone Companion app on my Android device. After signing into my Microsoft account on both my phone and the Your Phone app, I was good to go.

The downside with the Your Phone app is that it currently only syncs if the PC and phone are on the same network. The app is still in its early stages. I sometimes can’t connect to the phone at all, even when both are on the same network. But when it works, it works great. Windows-style notifications show you when a new text comes in. Contact names are synced as well; however, contact photos are not. MMS messages also don’t sync yet.

The Photos functionality in the Your Phone app is also limited. It currently only shows the last 25 photos you’ve taken/downloaded on your phone. This could be useful if you need to take a photo of something and transfer it to your computer quickly for work purposes or whatever. But it won’t be useful if you want to back up the photos on your phone. (For that, I recommend Google Photos). It would be nice to see access to all my photos.

That’s all for now. I figured I should write a blog post, since I haven’t done any since 2016!