Pirates Technologies

Microsoft is planning to bring Android phone notifications directly to Windows 10 PCs. During a session at Build 2016 today, Microsoft detailed how missed calls, messages, and other notifications from an Android phone will appear on a Windows 10 PC. Microsoft is using the Cortana app for Android to enable this support, and Windows 10 users will even be able to reply to the Android notifications directly from a PC.

Cortana for Android will build up a user notifications store in the cloud, allowing the notifications to mirror onto a Windows 10 PC. The software maker is also planning to allow you to dismiss notifications on an Android phone from a PC. Naturally, this functionality will work for Windows 10 Mobile devices too, but Microsoft won't be bringing this to the iPhone. That's largely because iOS is a lot more restricted, and Microsoft's Cortana app would not have the access required to interact with notifications and respond to messages. Microsoft is planning to bring this notification support to a "future version of Windows," so it's likely this will arrive with the Anniversary Update to Windows 10 this summer.

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 , and the Cortana app will bring this feature to Android.