Something we never expected to happen, actually, happened. In the latest update to its Phone Link app for Windows, the tech giant has brought support for Apple iPhone – specifically, iMessage for Windows 11.
According to Microsoft’s official blog (Opens in a new tab) and reported by The Verge (Opens in a new tab), the Phone Link app works by mirroring your phone to your PC for notifications, phone calls, and messages. With this update, iPhone users can now connect their devices to a Windows laptop or PC, send messages via iMessage, make and receive calls, and receive notifications via Windows 11.
In an interview with The Verge, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, explained how it works. “We send messages back and forth via Bluetooth, I think Apple instead sends those as iMessage once they get it in their system.”
As impressive as this sounds, there are some downsides involved.
Users cannot see the entire message history, only those sent or received through Phone Link. You also won’t see any blue or green chat bubbles because the system can’t tell between a regular text message and an iMessage. However, this is an amazing and big step in the right direction, one that could open up more features and support in the future like combining photos.
If you’re interested in trying out this feature, Microsoft will begin beta testing with a small percentage of Windows Insiders who are in the Dev, Beta, and Release Preview channels. “We will increase preview availability to more Insiders over time and based on the feedback we received with this first set of Insiders,” according to official blog post.
This new update also comes with many other features such as AI Bing and chat-powered searches in the taskbar, a screen recording feature, better touch optimization, and more .