Supported Samsung Galaxy phones can now use Android apps on Windows 10

By Sean Endicott
last updated

Your phone's apps can now run side-by-side with apps from your PC.

Your Phone Companion Android
Your Phone Companion Android (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • The Your Phone Apps feature is rolling out to supported Android devices.
  • The feature may take up to 48 hours to appear on supported devices.
  • The list of supported devices only includes Samsung Galaxy phones.

Microsoft's Your Phone is rolling out its Apps feature to supported Samsung Galaxy phones. The feature allows you to connect a supported phone to your PC through Wi-Fi and to run Android apps from your phone on your PC. The feature could take until September 17, 2020 to roll out to all supported devices, according to a tweet from the Your Phone account. Until recently, the Apps feature was limited to select flagship Samsung phones.

With the Apps feature, you can pin Android apps to your PC's Start Menu or taskbar and use apps from your phone side-by-side with apps from your Windows 10 PC. We took a closer look at the feature when it first came out.

See more

Right now, the Apps feature is only available for supported Samsung Galaxy phones. Newer flagship devices such as the Galaxy Note 9 and 10, Galaxy S9 and S10, and the Galaxy Z Flip are supported. Several of Samsung's A-series Galaxy devices are also supported. Microsoft has a complete list (opens in new tab) of phones that support the feature.

Notably, the Surface Duo is absent from the list of supported phones.
Your Phone Companion


Your Phone allows you to sync text messages, photos, and notifications from your phone to your Windows 10 PC. Supported smartphones can use it to run Android apps on PCs.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

22 Comments
  • I wonder if this could be the first step towards native Android app emulation on windows which could lead towards a windows powered phone with emulated Android apps in the future? I guess one can dream right?
  • Let me know when it works on phones other than Samsung's.
  • I just recently got rid of a LG G8 ThinQ and it worked. I was surprised it did.
  • @Tiger: It's Samsung Galaxy phones only.
  • I've got it on my Duo today, including the most recent preview features with contacts, etc.
  • Now this one blows my mind... Your Phone worked way better with my Note10+ than it does with my Duo. Why in the world would they not focus on this experience with the Duo.
  • because Microsoft lol
  • That's pretty lame. Maybe it relies on some Samsung tech.
  • They've said it would work on the Duo. Maybe it's not ready yet.
  • @KrayMat, it seemed the same to me between my Samsung Galaxy S10 and my Duo (where neither supported running apps yet as of last week). What was better for you on the Samsung?
  • Well for one I had the app open feature (beta) and it worked flawlessly. The biggest thing for me though is texting is inconsistent. It seems to get hung up and not send my messages several times a day, then when it does send, they dont show up in my android messages on the phone.
  • It's probably related to how to give the dual screen experience in Your Phone or choose which one screen to display.
  • It's ridiculous that they don't even support their own devices, even if it may not be a big selling point, it's not encouraging for the Duo support.
  • Yeah this kind of reminds me of my Windows phone when they kept rolling out updates and new apps for Android and iOS but never their own mobile OS.
  • It's probably related to how to give the dual screen experience in Your Phone or choose which screen to display.
  • This has already been up and running on my Note10 (not in a beta or preview program) for a couple weeks now. Have to say I'm enjoying it a lot. Your Phone is turning out pretty awesome.
  • is there an article on WC that lists all the Your Phone functions and divides them between all-android and samsung-specific features? that link provides just info on 3 items and they only have Galaxy and the Duo on there. And there's no real rundown of what features Your Phone does. WC dutifully announces new features, but there's no list. God knows that MS has never had a very good consumer-oriented site; their tips for Your Phone consists of three illustrations and three lines of text.
  • Still not available on my PC. But Your Phone has been working pretty good. The only thing I don't do right now with it is take calls through the PC.
  • They started working on this before the Duo was available. Calm down, it will come to Duo soon enough.
  • Um. they been working on the DUO since last year. How much more sooner does it need to be?
  • I've been using this on my Note 9 for a month. Works great! Don't know why this article says it is just rolling out?
  • Two things: Why on Earth is Your Phone now constantly crashing (it just closes for no reason) and I heard Dan and Zac say they use MS Authenticator with Apps on Your Phone but it just gives me a black screen? Is that a security block? I have an S20+...