Windows 11 is getting a new feature that lets you seamlessly resume using your favorite apps from your Android phone right on your PC. This new “Resume alert” will appear on your taskbar and, for now, is only available for Spotify.
This new feature is starting to roll out to Windows Insiders in both the Dev and Beta channels. To try it out, you’ll need to make sure your PC is running the latest Insider Preview build. Once you’re set up, you just need to start listening to something on the Spotify app on your Android phone, and a “Resume alert” will pop up on your Windows 11 taskbar. Clicking on that alert will automatically open the Spotify desktop app and continue playing the same track.
To be fair, this is a much more elegant solution than having to manually search for your music again, or even worse, find your place on an hour-long podcast. This looks a lot like Apple’s Handoff feature, so it may be Microsoft’s answer to it, but having a way to connect to other devices is always welcome.
Setting it up is pretty straightforward. First, you have to turn on “Allow this PC to access your mobile devices” in your PC’s settings under Bluetooth & devices and then Mobile devices. Then, you’ll need to open the Link to Windows app on your Android phone and make sure it’s set to run in the background. After that, you’re all set. You just open Spotify on your phone and start playing a track, and you should see the resume alert on your PC’s taskbar. It’s a gradual rollout, so you might have to be a little patient before it shows up for you.
What’s really cool is how it handles the situation if you don’t have the Spotify app installed on your PC. Instead of just doing nothing, the alert will let you install the app with a single click from the Microsoft Store. It will automatically download, open, and prompt you to sign in to your Spotify account.
Of course, you’ll need to be using the same Spotify account on both your phone and PC for this to work, but that’s to be expected. This makes the whole process of switching from your phone to your PC incredibly seamless, even if your desktop isn’t already prepped with all your apps.
While it’s currently limited to Spotify, Microsoft is already inviting other app developers to integrate this “Resume” feature into their own apps. You can assume this will have the ability to pick up a document you were reading on your phone and have it open instantly on your PC, or continue a game where you left off. It’s an improvement that will make your workflow so much smoother and faster.
In addition to this, the latest Insider build also has a few other improvements. There are new and improved battery icons on the lock screen, which are designed to give you a quick, at-a-glance view of your PC’s battery status. There’s also a new keyboard shortcut for inserting en and em dashes by pressing WIN + Minus (–) and WIN + Shift + Minus (—), respectively.
Source: Microsoft