Microsoft Is Adding One Of The Mac's Best Tricks To Windows 11

Microsoft continues to make the Windows and Android connection more like the connection between iPhones and Apple's Mac computers. One of the best features that Apple ever released for the Mac is Handoff, which lets users quickly jump back and forth between an iPhone and a Mac. It's great for starting something on your phone and then moving over to your work computer when you get back to the office. And now, Microsoft is bringing a similar feature to Windows 11 through its Phone Link feature.

Microsoft shared news of its plans to allow users to "seamlessly resume apps from Android phone to PC" in a Dev Channel update for Windows Insiders. According to the post, Microsoft is slowly rolling out the feature as part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5761 (KB5064093), though it will also be available to users running the latest beta channel builds, too.

At first, the feature will be relatively limited, with it mostly only allowing you to resume listening to music on Spotify between your Android phone and Windows 11 PC. Based on the wording in the blog post, it sounds like the feature will require the Spotify app found in the Microsoft Store. If you don't have it installed yet, Microsoft says clicking the notification will start a "1-click download" and install the app from the store. Of course, you'll need to be logged into the same Spotify account on both devices.

It's worth noting that being able to resume playing tracks on Spotify across a PC and Android device is already built into the app thanks to a feature called Spotify Connect. That said, this process should at least make it easier and more of a native part of your PC experience. You will need to have your device connected to Bluetooth through Phone Link, though. It's possible to use Phone Link without Bluetooth, but it's more limited, and you're probably already connected anyway if you use Microsoft's phone mirroring feature.

While this is a pale imitation of Apple's Handoff feature at the moment, it's a step in the right direction for Windows 11 and Android. It also makes the Windows x Android ecosystem a true competitor to Apple's ecosystem, especially since Phone Link works with any Android device, though not all Phone Link features work on all Android devices. Some are exclusive to Samsung devices.

It will take a while before Microsoft's version of Handoff can truly stand up to the usefulness of Apple's, especially as Apple continues to improve cross-device integration with the arrival of iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. But this is a solid start.