Phone Link app is a big move by Microsoft. When they did not get proper traction from developers to build their own modern mobile application ecosystem, they started working on integrating the competitor devices. Starting with replying to text messages from your PC and continuing your work across devices with Windows Timeline, Microsoft is ready to upgrade this feature. Now, you can view and download your photos from your phone to your PC. Along with that, application emulation and many other exciting features are coming to Phone Link app. This works great with Android but might lack some features or efficiency on iOS due to limitations imposed by Apple’s iOS. But, if you are not comfortable with this feature, you can use various methods to disable it on any Windows computer. Today, we will be checking out how to do that.
You should note that the Your Phone app is now called the Phone Link App in Windows 11 and Windows 10. In addition, the Your Phone Companion app for Android is now called Link to Windows.
Disable Phone Link app linking feature on Windows 11/10
In order to disable ‘Phone Link’ linking feature on Windows 11/10, we will be taking a look at the following methods-
- Using the Group Policy Editor.
- Using the Registry Editor.
1] Using the Group Policy Editor
It is worth noting that this method will not work at all if you are using Windows Home edition. This is so because the Group Policy Editor does not come with Windows 11/10 Home.
Start by hitting the WINKEY + R button combination to start the Run box and type in gpedit.msc and then finally hit Enter.
Now, navigate to the following path inside the Group Policy Editor-
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy
Double-click on the configuration listing named as Phone-PC linking on this device to open the configuration page.
This policy allows IT admins to turn off the ability to Link a Phone with a PC to continue reading, emailing and other tasks that requires linking between Phone and PC. If you enable this policy setting, the Windows device will be able to enroll in Phone-PC linking functionality and participate in Continue on PC experiences. If you disable this policy setting, the Windows device is not allowed to be linked to Phones, will remove itself from the device list of any linked Phones, and cannot participate in Continue on PC experiences. If you do not configure this policy setting, the default behavior depends on the Windows edition. Changes to this policy take effect on reboot.
You can either select Enabled to Enable the Phone linking feature for Your Phone or Disabled or Not Configured to Disable the Phone linking feature for Your Phone depending on your preferences.
Click on OK and exit the Group Policy Editor.
Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
Read: How to use Phone Link app in Windows 11/10.
2] Using the Registry Editor
Hit the WINKEY + R button combination to launch the Run utility, type in regedit and hit Enter. Once Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Now, right-click on System and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name this newly created DWORD as EnableMmx. Double click on it and change its Value to 0 to disable it. To enable it, you need to set its value to 1.
Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
Hope this works for you!
