Microsoft’s Your Phone app is a huge part of the company’s cross-platform efforts. The app acts as a bridge between the PC and Android or iOS devices. The app has been gaining features like the ability to make calls right from the PC. It is also getting RCS support for Samsung’s latest flagships, thanks to the strengthened partnership between the two companies that sees them working together to improve cross-device experiences.
Another feature that is making it to Samsung’s latest flagships – the Galaxy S20 line and the Galaxy Z Flip – is that of cross-device copy and paste. Details of the feature were spotted in a Microsoft Support document (via WindowsCentral) that details the feature and its related FAQs. The page notes that cross-device copy and paste “is supported on Samsung Galaxy S20, Samsung Galaxy S20+, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices only”.
Access to phone clipboard requires special OEM integration, hence enabling it through our Link to Windows partnership with Samsung. Any feature that doesn"t require special integrations we enable for all phones, such as the new 2K photo access.
— Roberto Bojorquez [Microsoft] (@bojorchess) February 15, 2020
For those wondering why this feature is currently exclusive only to Samsung devices, Microsoft’s Roberto Bojorquez says that this is so since accessing the clipboard on a device needs special integration from the phone manufacturer, which is enabled through the Link to Windows feature on the Galaxy smartphones, thanks to the partnership between the two giants.
Users of these devices can enable the feature by heading to the Your Phone app o the PC > Settings > Cross-device copy and paste and turn on the toggle for “Allow this app to access and transfer content I copy and paste between my phone and PC”. Any content copied on either device such as images or text will replace the contents in the clipboard of these devices. It must be noted, however, that images above 1MB in size will be resized.
With the partnership expanding to include Xbox, which was announced at Unpacked 2020, it will be interesting to see what other features or services make it to consumers over the course of the year.