Your Phone update makes it easier to respond to notifications for Insiders

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

What you need to know

  • The Your Phone app now supports responding to notifications within the app's notification page for Insiders.
  • Previously, the app only let you view notifications in this page or to reply through toasts.
  • Several Android apps support replying to notifications while their Windows 10 counterparts do not.

Microsoft's Your Phone app now supports responding to notifications from the notifications page for Insiders. The new feature makes it easier to respond to notifications and means you don't have to use a toast notification to respond to a notification in the Your Phone app.

Your Phone allows you to sync notifications and other content from your smartphone to your PC. These notifications allow you to keep your phone in your pocket, but until recently, the only way to respond to them was through toast notifications. These allowed you to reply to messages and other notifications quickly, but the notifications page of the app was only for viewing notitications.

How-to manage notifications for Your Phone and Windows 10 and avoid duplicate notifications

Notifications in the Your Phone app are often better than native Windows 10 notifications. Many developers have not implemented quick replies to notifications for Windows apps but have done so for Android. For example, Facebook's Windows 10 app will show you a message but not let you respond to it from a notification. The Android version of the app, however, supports quick replies from notifications and these work through the Your Phone app.

Aarthi Hatter, a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft shared the news of the new feature on Twitter. The feature is available for Insiders now.

Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.