Ever since Microsoft's dreams to a smartphone ecosystem parallel to Android and iOS were crushed under the competition, it has been fervently devoting its creative energy in support of the other two operating systems. The catalog of Microsoft's apps for Android is much more diverse and includes the Microsoft Launcher, which brings all the data related to your Microsoft account to the forefront and lets you exchange files and links directly between the PC and the smartphone.
However, if you don't wish to use the Microsoft Launcher as your default launcher, the company's Your Phone app allows you to perform some basic functions such as read notification in real time on to your Windows PC. It recently added the functionality to mirror your Android smartphone's display on to the PC and allow users to control some of the features on your smartphone directly from the PC. While the screen mirroring feature was limited to Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ and the Galaxy S9/S9+ at the time of its announcement, Microsoft is now adding support for additional devices.
With the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build (beta build for Windows) for Fast Ring testers, Microsoft has added OnePlus 6/6T, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy Note 9, and the Galaxy S10 series to the list of smartphones which now support real-time screen mirroring.
Do note that since the feature is not available in the stable versions of Windows yet, it may have some glitches. Some of the known issues include:
- No support for touch input yet
- Always On display and blue light filters don't work
- Audio plays on the phone and not the PC
- Double-clicking toggles the notification shade
- Support for mouse control is limited
- The keyboard on the smartphone may be hidden when it is in the Bluetooth range of the PC
To make sure that you get to use the screen mirroring feature on any of the above smartphones, make sure running Windows 10 Build 18885 (Fast Ring). You can check for an update by Settings>Update & Security> Windows Insider Program. If you're not registered as an Insider, click on Get Started on the same page.