Microsoft's Your Phone app gaining option to delete photos from your smartphone

By published

Insiders can now delete their phone's photos through their PC with the Your Phone app.

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

What you need to know

  • The Your Phone app now allows Insiders to delete images from their smartphone.
  • The feature is limited to Insiders at this time but should roll out to more people in the future.
  • The Your Phone app already allows you to view images from your smartphone on your PC.

Microsoft's Your Phone app allows you to view your smartphone's recent photos directly on your PC. A recent update for Insiders adds the ability to delete photos as well. The feature makes it easier to leave your smartphone in your pocket, as you can now do one more thing on your phone without having to have it in your hand.

At this time, the feature appears to be rolling out to Windows Insiders. We spotted the feature on a device registered in the Release Preview Ring. The update that adds the ability to delete photos brings the app to version 1.20111.125.0.

Your Phone Delete Photos

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

The Your Phone app already allows you to send text messages, view images, take calls, and control your smartphone's audio from your PC. If your smartphone is supported, the Your Phone app can even mirror Android apps to your PC. Microsoft continues to add functionality to the Your Phone app. Earlier this year, I broke my smartphone's screen and used the Your Phone app to manage all of my calls and texts. It worked well back then and has gotten several improvements since.

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Your Phone


Your Phone syncs your photos, text messages, and notifications between your phone and your PC. Now, Insiders can use it to delete images from their smartphones.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott

Sean Endicott is the news writer for Windows Central. If it runs Windows, is made by Microsoft, or has anything to do with either, he's on it. Sean's been with Windows Central since 2017 and is also our resident app expert. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.
11 Comments
  • Yeah nah. It doesn't allow me to take calls in any way shape or form
  • Maybe if you use a Samsung Phone? Nope the only thing that app is good for IMHO is for sending messages, and that is barely there if you don't have a Samsung phone, or one of the anointed from on high phones
  • I have a lowly Razer To oblivion
  • Your Phone is amazing. I can basically do everything on my phone through my much more comfortable computer interface, except fingerprint security (but could use a PIN). It ever supports my touchscreen on the computer to do touch-only operations (e.g., pinch to zoom) on the phone. Images and text messages have their own faster-to-access interface w/o needing to do a screen mirror to the phone. That allows using the whole desktop and multi-monitor support for those. For that reason, it's been frustrating that we can't delete pictures directly. This is a great addition to an already great app. Can't wait to get this in general release!
  • You could just open OneDrive on your PC to those folders and delete them that way and check to see if it updates on OneDrive, when you delete them through the Your Phone app. I'm thinking it will only allow you to delete photos stored directly on the phone, though.
  • Fortunately, I still have my Note 8. Voice calls work okay and sending and receiving text is nice. I haven't tried it since the new update, but I'm glad they added the feature to delete pictures. I've been considering upgrading to the Note S20 Ultra, but may try and wait to see what new is released for 2021. Although, I'm really hoping MS will release a Duo 2 with smaller bezels and better/enhanced features.
  • Yeah, the current Duo works great with Your Phone, but it is very rough to use the device, even independent of the obvious spec-based problems and hardware limitations. I still wouldn't switch back to a single-screen phone (having 2 screens is absolutely awesome and life-changing), but I'm constantly frustrated with some UI element not working correctly on the Duo.
  • One hope (does anyone already know this?): if I delete it from the phone through the Your Phone app, and if I have my phone set to auto-sync all photos to OneDrive, also let me remove it from OneDrive here, otherwise, I'm still stuck with all those bad pics I don't want in OneDrive and will still have to go through and delete them there again. Deleting junk files once is enough of a hassle. Please don't make me do it twice.
  • Not a "Your Phone" issue. This is onedrive sync issue because onedrive for Android phone is garbage at this syncing. It doesn't know what "sync" is. It is more like a backup solution rather than sync solution for photos.
  • Anyone know if the ability to delete/manage messages or notifications is in the works?
  • I have nothing but trouble with Your Phone, regardless of the device I'm using. Even after deactivating and deleting the device, I can never get rid of the message that they're unable to authenticate my device. Just a horrible execution.