Microsoft is rolling out a brand new model of its Telephone Hyperlink app for Home windows, and it lastly brings help for iPhone. Most notably, this contains help for iMessage on Home windows for the primary time… however there are some limitations on how precisely this works.
iMessage on Home windows… kind of
As reported by The Verge, the Telephone Hyperlink app for Home windows is supposed to reflect your telephone in your PC for issues like notifications, telephone calls, and messages. The app has traditionally solely supported Android gadgets, however that’s altering at the moment with the addition of iPhone help.
The brand new model of Telephone Hyperlink for Home windows makes use of Bluetooth to hyperlink a person’s iPhone to their Home windows PC. It then “passes instructions and messages” to the Messages app on that paired iPhone. This implies you possibly can ship and obtain all iPhone messages — textual content messages and iMessages — by the Telephone Hyperlink app in your PC.
“We ship the messages forwards and backwards by way of Bluetooth, Apple I believe in flip sends these as iMessage as soon as it will get onto their system,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of shopper advertising and marketing, defined to The Verge.
That is clearly a workaround since Apple doesn’t natively help Messages by way of any platforms apart from its personal. With that in thoughts, there are a few limitations.
As an illustration, you possibly can’t see the total message historical past in conversations by way of the Telephone Hyperlink app. As an alternative, you’ll solely see messages that “have been despatched or acquired utilizing Telephone Hyperlink.” Microsoft additionally isn’t in a position to differentiate between textual content messages and iMessages, so there are not any blue or inexperienced bubbles.
The most important limitation, nonetheless, is that you just gained’t be capable to ship photos in messages nor will you be capable to take part in group messages.
On the official Home windows weblog, Microsoft explains:
After selecting iPhone, the guided set up will kick off to pair your iPhone. You may be directed to observe a set of steps that can information you to pair your iPhone and PC over Bluetooth. This can provoke after you scan a QR code proven in your display, after which transfer on to the affirmation steps that helps us affirm the telephone and PC are in vary.
Throughout this step, you’ll be requested to substantiate the code in Telephone Hyperlink matches the code proven in your iPhone. When you full pairing, you’ll be requested to grant a set of permissions that enable us to get all of your favourite content material sync’d over to Telephone Hyperlink.
iPhone integration into the Telephone Hyperlink app is out there beginning at the moment for a “small share” of Home windows Insiders enrolled within the Dev, Beta, and Launch Preview channels. It is going to roll out to extra customers over time.
9to5Mac’s Take
Regardless of these limitations, nonetheless, Microsoft believes it is a worthwhile characteristic addition for Telephone Hyperlink customers. The app didn’t help iPhone in any capability earlier than, so this at the least brings primary performance. There’s the chance extra options might be added sooner or later.
What’s fascinating to me is whether or not that is an Apple-sanctioned method. It definitely doesn’t appear to be it’s. There’s a chance Apple may roll out a change to iOS that utterly breaks this Bluetooth-based workaround that Microsoft is utilizing.
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