How to link your iPhone with Windows 11 and use iMessage

The sync isn’t full-featured as within Apple’s ecosystem, but it’s definitely better than nothing

- ALAINA YEE

At long last, you can link your iPhone with a Windows PC—at least, you can if you’re running Windows 11.

Anyone still on Windows 10 isn’t missing out on as much as you might think, though. You don’t get the same experience as when pairing an iPhone with a Mac. So while you can use Microsoft’s Phone Link app to interact with your iPhone’s text messages, make phone calls, and see phone notifications, some functions come with caveats, particularly texts:

• Group, picture, and other media messages won’t show in conversation threads. You will see notifications for those kinds of incoming messages, though.

• Message conversations only show texts that were sent and received after pairing, and only upon the second message received from a contact—even if you have an ongoing thread with that person.

• Texts sent through your phone won’t show in the conversation history shown on your PC.

• Not all iPhone apps currently support passthrough of notifications to a PC.

But even with these limitations, being even partially untethered from your phone while on your PC is very freeing. You won’t need to look at your iPhone (or Apple Watch) as often. And connecting the two devices is easy. Here’s how to try it out for yourself.

Note: If someone knows your iPhone passcode, they can pair the Phone Link app with your phone to see your communications and notifications unbeknownst to you. To avoid unwanted monitoring, protect your PIN and check your Bluetooth settings periodically for any unknown devices paired (and connected) to your phone.