Microsoft debuts 'Your Phone' app promising to mirror iPhone on Windows PCs
At its annual Build conference in Seattle, Microsoft on Monday revealed "Your Phone," an upcoming app that will let people mirror iPhone and Android interfaces in Windows 10.
Only Android has been confirmed as getting full mirroring, including access to things like photos, files, texts, and notifications. Owners of the iPhone should be able to handle many essential functions from a paired Windows PC, saving the trouble of constantly picking up an iPhone and unlocking it. The iOS version of Microsoft's Edge browser will be required.
Your Phone will begin testing with Windows Insiders members this week. Feedback will be used to shape its development, which could lead to inclusion in "Redstone 5," a major Windows 10 update due this fall.
Functionality will presumably be somewhat limited on iPhones, since Apple's sandboxing and API access policies are more restrictive than Android for security purposes. At present, few details are known about the functionality, limited to a limited disclosure about the feature at the Build conference keynote.
Similar smartphone pairing options have been tried before. A key example is Apple's Continuity, which lets iPhone owners make calls and texts from a Mac, and carry over work and Web browsing using compatible apps.
Only Android has been confirmed as getting full mirroring, including access to things like photos, files, texts, and notifications. Owners of the iPhone should be able to handle many essential functions from a paired Windows PC, saving the trouble of constantly picking up an iPhone and unlocking it. The iOS version of Microsoft's Edge browser will be required.
Your Phone will begin testing with Windows Insiders members this week. Feedback will be used to shape its development, which could lead to inclusion in "Redstone 5," a major Windows 10 update due this fall.
Functionality will presumably be somewhat limited on iPhones, since Apple's sandboxing and API access policies are more restrictive than Android for security purposes. At present, few details are known about the functionality, limited to a limited disclosure about the feature at the Build conference keynote.
Similar smartphone pairing options have been tried before. A key example is Apple's Continuity, which lets iPhone owners make calls and texts from a Mac, and carry over work and Web browsing using compatible apps.
Comments
I'm sure that Microsoft are preparing to introduce a load of subscription services.
$2.99/month for solitaire
$5.99/month for a media player
$15.99/month for a half decent backup utility
etc
etc
Still, it matters nowt to me as my last Windows system was reformatted and CentOS installed on it at least 6 months ago.
No thank you.
Back when I was forced to use Windows I always ran into issues with the IT department when it came to binding any Apple (or Google) functionality with company PCs. Even the iCloud web portal was blocked. No data flow or synchronization between any corporate asset and personal asset was allowed. Sure, employees who had company issued locked-down iPhones and iPads (with no access to the real App Store) could sync via iTunes. I wonder how this new feature will play with IT departments?
I used to love going to Microsoft PDC and early Build conferences because Microsoft treated developers like kings. Microsoft would simply firehose mountains of technology onto the dev community year after year and the stacks of CDs/DVDs would grow to monumental heights. Unfortunately most of the technology would be deprecated or go out of vogue before you or your company could get around to using it. Even worse, some devs would succeed in forcing doomed short-lived MS technology into a product and create a maintenance burden for the company. At some point Microsoft started giving away PCs, tablets, phones, PDAs, and high dollar value swag that transformed PDC into a swag grab fest. At one PDC they announced a big swag giveaway during the keynote and people started leaving immediately to claim their freebies. The next year they corrected this snafu by announcing the swag would only be available later in the week - so please don't walk out now. That was probably a sign of over compensating to keep up interest in what became a rather uninteresting time in Microsoft's evolution. I'm surprised they still get thousands of attendees to Build, but I suspect most of them are attending on "other people's money" and the entertainment and swag factor is still pretty good for the attendees. Not being negative either, it's just that the amount and quality of the dev resources that MS makes available online and through MSDN subscriptions makes Build redundant for most devs.