Android storage integration in File Explorer is one of those Windows 11 cross-platform features that works really well. It works smoothly without hiccups, and I can now see all my documents, pictures, and files from my Android phone (Galaxy S23) in File Explorer.
It’s identical to accessing the storage using a USB cable, but thanks to deeper integration using Cross Device Experience Host, it’s completely wireless.
With Windows 11’s Android integration, you can open File Explorer and notice your phone’s name on the left sidebar. When you click the shortcut, your phone’s internal storage opens in the File Explorer.
Mayank Parmar
After seeing this article shared on Reddit, I tried it on my devices today and it is already up and running here. The initial beta announcement for the feature was in late July this year, so a relatively fast rollout. Kudos to Microsoft for including Windows 10 in the release (although a more cynic take would be that they felt bound to support it because of the slow adoption of Windows 11); hopefully this means I can use this equally well on my Surface tablet, which I don’t intend to update until Windows 10’s end-of-life.
In my initial testing the feature works pretty well, although it’s noticeably slower to access the phone files than over a cable connection. After the initial setup, the smartphone shows up in the Navigation pane similarly to OneDrive storage, and from there you can browse folders and manage files as you would with any other storage device. It should make for a great alternative to Google and Samsung’s now merged Nearby Share; the latter has a more friendly user interface, but for me at least the connection fails more often than not, and if you need to transfer multiple files I imagine it might become cumbersome rather quickly.
The native Android storage integration looks more suited to managing larger numbers of files, like backups to a PC or cleaning up your phone storage of old screenshots and various WhatsApp media downloads. I am doing a rather lousy job of backing up my mobile photos on the laptop regularly, so maybe not having to link them by cable will push me to do this more often. Another good aspect of this integration is that you can easily turn off the connection from the phone’s Quick Settings panel; I assume there’s some amount of battery drain if it’s left constantly on, so better keep it off when it’s not needed.
While setting it up, I noticed another previously announced integration is now live: the ability to use the phone’s camera as a PC webcam! I played around with it a bit in the native Windows 11 camera app, where it shows up as a ‘virtual camera’ you can freely switch to. This one seems faster than the file management, as I noticed far fewer delays – and the video quality is certainly an improvement over integrated laptop webcams! For video calls you might want to consider a phone stand though, as it would soon become tiresome to balance the phone on one hand – or simply take the call on the smartphone if that’s an option.
The Phone Link software on the Android side adds a couple of neat features, from the basic switch between the front and back cameras to a couple of filters, including background blur and soft focus. Curiously, the filters differ based on which camera you choose; blurring is exclusive to the selfie camera, while stabilization only works with the back lenses.
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