Robert Triggs/Android Authority
In brief
- Microsoft offers Windows users a convenient way to share files wirelessly from their PC to Android devices.
- You need both Link to Windows on your Android phone and Phone Link on your PC.
If you regularly try to move files between your phone and PC, being tied to a USB cable is pretty annoying. Thankfully, we live in a world where wireless connectivity is ubiquitous, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Microsoft working on a way to streamline this type of access by letting you connect wirelessly to your Android phone from Windows File Explorer. Today, the company is starting to expand this type of wireless cross-platform access. The ability to send files to your phone from the Windows Share screen is starting to roll out.
While wired transfers work, extending this functionality to wireless access is a huge win for convenience and usability. We got early signs that Microsoft was working in this direction a few months ago, and last month testers in the Windows Insider program were able to start trying it out for themselves. Now Microsoft is announcing that with Windows 11 Preview Builds 22621.4112 and 22631.4112, wireless Android access via the Windows Share window is coming to the general public:
(Windows Share) New! You can now share content from the Windows Share window on your Android device. To do this, you need to pair your Android device with your Windows PC. Use the Link to Windows app on your Android device and Phone Link on your PC.
We just discovered the Android side of this change today, as the Link to Windows app on phones now shows your PC as a Direct Share destination in the Android share sheet. With this Windows 11 update, you can enjoy the same kind of easy connectivity on the PC side of the equation, too.
As we’ve already seen, to set it up you’ll need to install the Link to Windows app on your Android device and Microsoft Phone Link on your PC. Microsoft doesn’t say anything about specific versions here, so you don’t have to use a beta like before, but it’s probably wise to check that you have the latest versions of both.
If you have already installed this Windows update and still do not receive support, you should be patient – Microsoft makes it clear that the rollout will be gradual.
