"Your Phone Companion" app?

[Ander131]

I was at Google Play Store tonight, updating apps on my Note9, and saw an update available for something called "Your Phone Companion – Link to Windows".

I looked it up. It's an app published by Microsoft that lets you connect your phone to a Windows 10 PC, so you can use the PC to access your recent photos, send texts, and make phone calls.

I didn't install it. It doesn't appear in my phone's Apps list, and I can't find it from my Home screen. So even if I wanted it, I can't run it.

The only option Play Store gives me is to update it; there's no "Uninstall" button. (I tried updating it, but the only option I had then was to uninstall the update—which is what happens when you try to uninstall a bundled app like Facebook or SmartThings.)

Apparently, Samsung is bundling this app (which it calls simply "Link to Windows") with Galaxy 10 phones. How did it get on my Note9 though?

And is there a way to remove it? Or should I just ignore it?

(And yeesh, why did the forum turn the quote marks in my title into code? Go figure.)

 

[v65rider]

re: "Your Phone Companion" app?

Did you upgrade to Android 10? If so, that's how you got it... at least that's when I noticed it in my phone. And like you said, there's no way to uninstall it

 

[debsawyer]

re: "Your Phone Companion" app?

You should try it before you knock it. I was against it at first then I started using it. It's a godsend.

 

[Ander131]

Re: ''Your Phone Companion'' app?

Found it! It's in the "Quick Panel" that appears when you swipe down from the top of the phone, as "Link to Windows". So it's obviously a feature Samsung bundled with the phone.

It's not mentioned in the Note9 manual. And it's a bit confusing that they call the app one thing in "Apps", and another in actual use. Mystery solved, anyway.

You should try it before you knock it. I was against it at first then I started using it. It's a godsend.

I'm glad you find it useful. Personally, though, I can't imagine any reason I'd need to take special measures to transfer data directly between my phone and PC... It's easy enough to email the occasional file to myself. Cheers!

 

[Philip Butin]

Your Phone App won't connect; "Link to PC" won't connect either.

I am having the same problem. I have a Note 9 and I am trapped. I love the "Your Phone" app and have used it for several months on two different PCs, but it has started telling me most of the time that it can't connect to my phone. I reset it in Windows 10 and disable the companion app on my phone and emptied the cache and data in the app, but it cannot be deleted from the phone, and it also doesn't show so it can't be used to connect with Microsoft.

I am now running Android 10. The problems seem to have started with the update, although I don't know when the update took place.

When I use the new "Link to Windows" button on the pull down quick menu, it starts by saying I'm signed in and gives me my sign-in, then it gives be a screen that says "sign in to start linking again. There is a button that says "Is there a QR code on your PC?" I can set up the QR code on the PC, but when it scans from the phone it says "Login Failed" and I get another screen that says "Sign in to start linking."

It appears to me that Samsung and Microsoft need to communicate about this. Apparently the new "Link to Windows" system is installed on Note 9s, but the "Your Phone Companion is still there too. Somehow neither one of them works on the Note 9 to connect the YourPhone app.

Can anyone help with this?

Thanks.

 

[brentj]

Re: ''Your Phone Companion'' app?

I'm glad you find it useful. Personally, though, I can't imagine any reason I'd need to take special measures to transfer data directly between my phone and PC... It's easy enough to email the occasional file to myself. Cheers!

When I'm sitting at my desktop and a text comes in to my phone, I get a popup on my desktop screen. I can click on that and type a reply on my desktop with full keyboard and send the reply, all while my phone is in my pocket. I can also attach a photo that is on my desktop. It's also easy to open up phone photos or phone emails on the desktop with this connection. I could live without it, but I find it useful. There are other functions that I don't use, at least not so far.