I’ve been running Windows 11 Insider builds on a spare ThinkPad (32GB RAM, Hyper-V enabled) for a while now—mostly to stay ahead of quirks before they hit production. So when I saw the new Mobile Apps sidebar show up in the Start menu, I had to poke around.
Why I Gave It a Shot
Not gonna lie, I’ve always found Phone Link useful but a bit buried. You launch it, wait for the sync, and by then you’ve already picked up your phone. So when Microsoft tucked mobile integration directly into the Start menu in Canary build 25965, I figured it might finally be frictionless.
What It Actually Does
Once you link your Android phone (I used a Pixel 6 Pro), the sidebar shows up on the left edge of the Start menu. It’s not flashy—just a clean panel with:
- Battery percentage
- Notifications
- Messages
- Call logs
- Recent photos
It’s like a mini dashboard. No pop-ups, no clutter. Just there when you need it.
How I Enabled It
Here’s the exact flow I followed:
- Opened the Phone Link app and paired my phone via QR code.
- Went to Settings > Personalization > Start.
- Flipped the toggle for “Show mobile device in Start.”
If you don’t see the toggle, you’re probably not on the right Insider build. I had to update to 25965 before it appeared.
A Few Surprises
- The sidebar doesn’t always show up immediately after linking. I had to reboot once.
- iPhone support is… let’s just say “symbolic.” You’ll get some notifications, but it’s nowhere near Android’s integration.
- Most guides say it works out of the box, but I had to manually update Phone Link from the Microsoft Store before the sidebar behaved properly.
Lessons Learned
If you’re testing this in a lab or dev environment, make sure your Insider build is up to date and your Phone Link app isn’t stale. Also, don’t expect full control—this is more of a passive glance than an interactive panel.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t a game-changer, but it’s a solid quality-of-life tweak. For folks who live in the Start menu (especially admins juggling alerts), it’s one less reason to reach for your phone mid-task.
Ever tried syncing your phone to a VM and watching it flake out halfway through? Yeah, this feels smoother.
Have you tested this on your setup yet? Curious if it behaves differently on non-Canary builds or with Samsung’s enhanced Phone Link features. Drop your experience below—I’m all ears.
