You will soon be getting your Android smartphone notifications on your Windows 10 desktop
Gone are the days of receiving the same notification on your phone and PC, and having to dismiss them individually. During a session at BUILD 2016 yesterday, Microsoft showed off its improved notification features with Action Center in the Cloud, a means of sharing notifications between devices with the same Microsoft account. Microsoft explained how missed calls, messages, and other notifications from an Android phone will appear on a Windows 10 PC.
While this concept is already introduced by Microsoft with the Cortana for Android that notifies you on your PC of missed calls from your phone, however, the Redmond giant is taking it a step further with Action Center in the Cloud. Windows 10 users will even be able to reply to the Android notifications directly from a PC.
With the introduction of the new Universal Dismiss, as long as your phone and PC have the same app, one swipe on either device will remove the notification from any devices that it appears on. The most awaited Notification Mirroring is also coming, which will mirror phone notifications on any Windows 10 PC, irrespective of whether that Windows 10 device has the source app for the particular notification. This feature will be integrated with Windows 10 mobile (as long as the phone and PC has the same MSA), and the Cortana app will bring this feature to Android.
While this functionality will work for Windows 10 Mobile devices too, Microsoft would not be bringing this to the iPhone. As far as iOS is concerned, since the OS is so “closed”, Microsoft’s Cortana app would not have the access needed to interact with notifications and respond to messages. Microsoft Windows 10 Anniversary update is expected to hit PCs and mobiles this summer with its “future version of Windows.” Such improvements are expected to greatly improve the overall value of the ecosystem.
