Google and Microsoft aren’t syncing: Why Phone Link may stop showing you sensitive notifications after installing Android 15
- Android 15 redacts sensitive notifications from ‘untrusted’ apps, including Link to Windows, and this will block these notifications from showing up through Phone Link for some
- Android users, such as Google Pixel and Sony Xperia users, may experience issues if Link to Windows was not pre-installed
- Despite this, Phone Link still works for calls, messages and apps; sensitive alerts require manual checks
In a moment that reminds us that Google and Microsoft are indeed two different companies, it is reported that users of both Windows Phone Link on Windows 11 and mobile devices running Android 15 may find Phone Link to be slightly less useful than before. Some people who try this may find that certain sensitive notifications no longer appear when using Phone Link on their PC while their Android device is connected.
Phone Link is a feature in Windows 11 that lets you access your Android device through your PC and do things like view notifications, read and reply to messages, make and receive phone calls, view media like photos and using certain Android apps. You can even use your Android phone as a webcam and sync files between your PC and mobile directly in File Explorer.
What is changing and why
Google released Android version 15 in October 2024, and in it the company introduced a new privacy rule: it hides (or “redacts”) sensitive notifications, including 2FA codes (those one-time codes used to securely log in and that people receive as a message on their mobile) and alerts from banking apps. It censors notifications from any app that Google considers an ‘untrusted’ notification monitoring app. according to Windows Central.
It appears that some users have received a notification in Phone Link warning them that:
“With the latest Android updates, Phone Link no longer shows notifications containing sensitive information for your safety.”
On Android you need a companion app to Phone Link called ‘Link to Windows’ and it seems Google has (inadvertently or not) flagged this as unreliable. However, this only affects people who downloaded the Link to Windows app from the Google Play Store and not those who use Link to Windows on devices with it pre-installed. Some phones affected by this quirk include the Google Pixel and Sony Xperia models, while Samsung Galaxy AI devices will likely remain unaffected.
Phone Link is still useful even if you upgrade to Android 15 on a phone that didn’t come with Phone Link out of the box and have manually installed Link to Windows from the Google Play Store. You can still view messages, manage apps and make calls. It’s just that you’ll need to physically check your phone for sensitive messages after installing Android 15, if you haven’t already.
Phone Link is one of the most useful parts of Windows 11 and allows you to work on your PC, for example, without having to check your phone. If you’re used to checking all your mobile notifications on your PC, I can imagine it being somewhat annoying to have to adjust back.
I also wonder if Google will change this in a future update after revising this policy regarding Phone Link, although we have no indication of that yet. Users of both Windows 11 PCs and devices running Android 15 without Phone Link pre-installed will have to hope for the best (or let Google know they’re not happy with this change).