Summary
- Windows Phone Link bridges the gap between Android and macOS, offering mirroring, syncing messages/calls, and cross-device copy/paste.
- Microsoft plans to enhance Phone Link with OCR capabilities for text detection in images, allowing easy copy/paste functionality.
- Recent updates to Phone Link include the ability to use your Android phone as a webcam on Windows 11, surpassing other options like Pixels.
Android does not integrate with macOS the same way iPhones do. On the Windows side, Microsoft’s Phone Link does a great job bridging this gap, letting you mirror your phone’s screen, sync messages and calls, enjoy cross-device copy-and-paste support, and more. You can even view recently taken photos on your Android phone right from your PC. Microsoft is about to improve this feature further by adding the ability to copy and paste text from within images.
The Phone Link app on Windows will gain OCR capabilities, allowing it to detect text in pictures. To trigger the feature, you must click the Text button from the Phone Link’s gallery when viewing an image. This will bring up the option to select all text or copy it, which you can paste into another input box.
Nathan Edwards of The Verge found Phone Link’s OCR capabilities inferior to those of Samsung or Apple, suggesting that Microsoft might have a ways to go in refining its implementation.
Since Microsoft is adding this feature to the Phone Link app on Windows, it will work on all Android phones that support Link to Windows. The latter is the Android app you must have installed on your phone for all Phone Link features to work.
Windows Central spotted the OCR capabilities in the latest release of Phone Link on the Windows 11 Release Preview channel. This indicates that the feature should also roll out to the public soon.
Phone Link keeps getting better
Microsoft has been constantly improving Phone Link with useful new features. In late February 2024, it rolled out the ability to use your Android phone as a webcam with your Windows 11 PC through Phone Link. The Redmond company’s implementation is a lot better than what you get on the Pixels, which requires a wired USB connection to work. Plus, the quality is nowhere as good as what you get with Phone Link.
For a long time, some of Phone Link’s features were exclusive to Samsung devices. However, in recent years, Microsoft has worked with several Android manufacturers to expand its availability. Most recently, Oppo, Realme, and OnePlus integrated Phone Link into their Android 14 release, opening up access to many exclusive features.
