Microsoft To Route Phone Calls On Smartphones To Windows 10 PC Speakers With ‘Your Phone’ App?
Microsoft is attempting to achieve a higher level of integration of mobile communication and smartphone features within the Windows 10 OS ecosystem. Is 'Your Phone' app the key?
Microsoft is exploring ways to achieve a tighter integration of Windows 10 PCs with smartphones, and more importantly, the telephony abilities these portable mobile communication devices possess. In simple words, through an app called ‘Your Phone’, Microsoft may be trying to route the calls originating from a smartphone directly to the speakers connected to a Windows 10 desktop PC.
Microsoft doesn’t have an authoritative and comprehensive smartphone platform. In other words, the Windows OS maker is now heavily dependent on Google Android, which is the dominant smartphone operating system today. Incidentally, Microsoft does command the leadership position in the desktop computing space. The Windows Operating System, and more specifically the Windows 10 OS, is steadily gaining acceptance.
Hence, the company is experimenting on some pretty revolutionary technology to allow the Windows OS ecosystem to serve as a virtual repository for smartphone activities. Most notable and promising platform among several, is the ‘Your Phone’ app.
Table of Contents
Microsoft ‘Your Phone’ App To Further Blur The Line Between Windows Desktop PC and a Smartphone
Microsoft hasn’t released the Your Phone app yet. However, the app could arrive with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, which could be soon. The app could essentially attempt to integrate smartphone support into the Windows 10 platform.
The Your Phone app isn’t completely developed yet, but even in its current version, it looks promising. The app currently allows users to interact with messages and photos on their smartphones. Needless to mention, this is quite rudimentary and common. Microsoft certainly has a lot to add to the app. Interestingly, several early adopters of the Windows 10 update, who are part of the Windows Insider program, could soon begin to test more functionality.
1 of 2
[Image Credit: On MSFT]
[Image Credit: On MSFT]
Microsoft briefly touched upon an interesting feature within the Your Phone app that could show up in the next major update for Windows 10. Industry experts believe the final release of the app could ship with the Spring 2019 update for end consumers.
Diving deep into the app, developers discovered a new system called Windows.CallingShellApp. Essentially, the system attempts to transfer calls that originate on a smartphone to speakers on desktop or laptop running Windows 10 OS. Intriguingly, the app may primarily work with desktops, but there is an oblique reference to Microsoft’s obscure folding device through other strings in the subsystem.
Microsoft Attempting To Add Native Support For Telephony Features Directly Into Windows 10
Several platforms, including Facebook Messenger, Dell’s Mobile Connect App, and even Microsoft’s own Skype offer very similar communication functionality. However, it is quite apparent that Microsoft wants to deeply integrate native support of such functions directly within the core of the Windows 10 OS.
[Image Credit: Windows Central via On MSFT]The company most likely intends to go much beyond the cocooned experience the other platforms offer. This is because the Your Phone app also reportedly supports App Mirroring functionality. It most likely mimics or virtually duplicates the smartphone on to the desktop running Windows 10 OS.
The Your Phone app could be one of Microsoft’s earnest attempts to offer a comprehensive connectivity and communications platform on a desktop that is not hardware dependent. With App Mirroring, users could also potentially keep the smartphones aside entirely, while using a PC running on Windows 10 OS.
