iMessage on Windows via Microsoft’s Phone Link
As reported by The Verge, the Phone Link app for Windows is meant to mirror your phone on your PC for things like notifications, phone calls, and messages. The app has historically only supported Android devices, but that’s changing today with the addition of iPhone support.
The new version of Phone Link for Windows uses Bluetooth to link a user’s iPhone to their Windows PC. It then “passes commands and messages” to the Messages app on that paired iPhone. This means you can send and receive all iPhone messages — text messages and iMessages — through the Phone Link app on your PC.
[…]
[You] can’t see the full message history in conversations via the Phone Link app. Instead, you’ll only see messages that “have been sent or received using Phone Link.”
It doesn’t support images or group messages, either. I guess this is similar to the limited iMessage support that CarPlay and Fitbit have.
I wish there were an actual iMessage API so that third parties could work around the bugs and limiations of Apple’s Messages app.
Previously:
- Limiting iMessage’s Disk Usage
- The Difficulty of Accessing Old iMessages
- Why There’s No iMessage for Android
- Beeper Brings iMessage to Android and Windows
Update (2023-03-28): Federico Viticci (Mastodon):
I got access to the updated version of Phone Link on my PC today, and this integration is pretty wild and it actually works, albeit with several limitations.
Update (2023-04-26): Joe Rossignol:
Microsoft today announced it is beginning to roll out iPhone support to the Phone Link app on Windows 11. In a blog post, the company said this functionality will be available to all Windows 11 users around the world by mid-May.
Update (2023-05-16): Joe Rossignol:
Microsoft today announced it has completed its rollout of iPhone support for its Phone Link app on Windows 11, as spotted by The Verge.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Remember when FaceTime was supposed to be an open standard?
> I wish there were an actual iMessage API so that third parties could work around the bugs and limitations of Apple’s Messages app.
Plus we'd be able to sensibly send messages from apps like Keyboard Maestro or scripts, without going through ugly AppleScript hacks that mostly work.
If Apple wants to be compliant with EU law they will have to provide such an API. Doubtful they'll roll it out world wide.
> I wish there were an actual iMessage API so that third parties could work around the bugs and limiations of Apple’s Messages app.
Don't we all! Maybe we should all use Apple's feedback app to let them know, so that they can send that feedback directly into a black hole never to be seen by human eyes again.