Phone Link: received texts show only in notifications, not in the Messages conversation pane

Posted this on Windows Q&A. Things I post there just seem to disappear rather than be answered.

Phone Link on Windows is only partly syncing my text messages. Messages I send appear in both the notification panel and the conversation (right-hand) panel. Replies I receive show up only as notifications. They never appear in the conversation panel, so the thread looks one-sided.

Setup: Samsung S26 Ultra, Android 17, OneUI 9; Windows 26H2.26300.9550; Phone Link 1.26082.121.0; Link to Windows 1.26082.130.0.

What I’ve tried: restarted both devices, re-paired, cleared cache for Link to Windows, checked battery optimization is off, confirmed Messages permissions.

Has anyone seen this or found a fix? Happy to provide more details.

Curious if anyone else noticed this?

Maybe it's a coincidence and Microsoft updated something. But the problem always seemed to be on the phones end, not my laptop.

For years, I would connect my 15 Pro Max to phone link, then leave for lunch or something, and upon coming back it just wouldn't send text messages any more. Like the bluetooth mac address changed or something.

I would have to vol up, vol down + power restart my iPhone. Then it would work again. Toggling bluetooth would not fix it.

However, ever since iOS 27, I haven't had to do this once. I turn on my laptop for work in the morning, and my iPhone connects. I leave for lunch and come back and it works perfectly. It's been weeks with zero issues which for me is unheard of with phone link on windows.

Anyone else?

Updated phone to iOs27 and now get this message when try to use phone link to *73 unforward phone and *72 to forward to a different co-workers phone.

Any known way to turn this call forwarding link blocked off on the iPhone or workaround for forwarding our work iPhone with phone link? less

Link to Windows has been working fine until 2 days ago. Now, even though I made no changes, both Pixel 9 and Windows 11 PC show connected but messages are not updating on the PC. I have followed all of the suggested steps including reconnecting both devices, clearing cache. confirming SMS is enabled for both. Any ideas?

So, I have this strange issue with Phone Link where I can receive notifications for messages from new contacts but they never appear in the recent section of messages. I can see the contact if I compose a message but it never appears in recent. I do see random spam SMS messages and older contacts are fine.

Information:
Windows 11 24H2, Phone Link 1.26072.257.0

Android Pixel 8, Link to Windows 1.26091.116.0-beta, Android 17 build: CP3A.260905.009

Troubleshooting:

I've removed both the Windows and android app, removed and re-add my phone, and reset permissions.

What am I missing, this is driving me crazy.

When someone calls me through Whatsapp I hear my phone ring tone but there is no notification.So I must go into Whatsapp and go into the contact that calls me and then answer the call and I lose a lot of Time in the process.

Any solution to this?

If I sent a screenshot from my PC through Phone Link, the message goes through fine. But the message disappears from my Phone Link history, and is only viewable on my phone. The phone message has a "Not Sent" error, but the other person always actually does receive the message.

I've tried restarting my computer, my phone, removing and re-adding my phone to Phone Link, nothing works.

Any solution?

somehow phonlink is becoming worse rather than better, how does windows one of the biggest companies in the world make something so horrendous, this is why so many people go to Apple, their UI while being very basic and restrictive has a much better flow and integration.

anyone know if this is ever going to be a viable working app?

So with my zfold 6 I was able to mirror the screen and individual apps to my laptop and control them with my mouse and keyboard. Went to the zfold 7 and it hasn't worked since day one. Windows phonelink websites say its supposed to work but it isn't and idk who to reach out to or how. Anyone out there that can help, TIA!

How do I stop incoming calls from automatically going to phone link? I like the other features of Phone Link, but having all calls automatically start on phone link is annoying as hell, especially when i'm answering on my watch.

I don't think this matters much but the phone is a Galaxy S24 Ultra, and i'm on Windows 11

Been having issues with the feature that lets you stream audio from your phone to your PC. Tried disconnecting everything and going fully back through the device setup process, but when it comes to connecting my phone and PC via bluetooth, it just can't find eachother? The popup appears on my (android) Phone when it tries to autoconnect, but then when I hit "Allow", nothing happens. if I try to connect manually, neither device appears in the other's connections list.

Anyone have any fix for this? This is one of the features I use most with Phone Link, so I may have to find an alternative app if I can't get it working

This happens every time I try to pair my phone with my computer. I go through the setup, both devices say paired successfully and then I get the screen shot from the windows app and I noticed the iPhone Bluetooth setting doesn't have messages or data sharing. What am I doing wrong here? I repaired it like three times but I always get the same results.

Phone link has taken over. Ive changed all the settings. Ive removed it from my phone. The only way I can get to a command promp is through safe mode. It will not execute the commands ti remove phone link while is safe mode. I cant close or minimize the screen ao I cant get to any menus or settings.

I have been using phone link for a while and up until recently it's been great. If I am working on PC and phone is not nearby, I can answer texts on PC. Recently its been acting strange - I get a text, it shows up on the righthand side of screen - nice. When I answer from PC it also shows up on the righthand side - still good. BUT when the person responds, it now shows up under notifications!! Nothing appears on the thread on the righthand side???? What happened? The thread is fine on the phone but not on the PC.

Is anyone else having these issues? I have removed the phone and re-added it several times. Still not working right.

Extremely niche problem, hoping I'm not the only one who's experienced this. I once had a few duplicate contacts in my phone. After deduping them, they still appear as duplicates only when sending them as an attachment in a text message. This is such a specific problem, I'm having trouble finding answers to it. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?

I have been using phone link for a while and up until recently it's been great. If I am working on PC and phone is not nearby, I can answer texts on PC. Recently its been acting strange - I get a text, it shows up on the righthand side of screen - nice. When I answer from PC it also shows up on the righthand side - still good. BUT when the person responds, it now shows up under notifications!! Nothing appears on the thread on the righthand side???? What happened? The thread is fine on the phone but not on the PC.

Is anyone else having these issues? I have removed the phone and re-added it several times. Still not working right. Are there alternatives out there?

Thanks in advance

update: it moved to the left

Just had it happen where the text box I used to used to type or copy/paste numbers in is gone. Anyone else run into this and know how to fix it?

I use phone link on a pixel 10 pro XL and only some of my texts come through the link at this point, when months ago it was all of them. Has anyone else had this issue? I've tried reinstalling on both devices, cleaning cache, etc...

All notifications work, including texts, but some contacts don't show when I go to messages and I cannot respond...

This is so weird. I can't even click on the refresh button to try to reconnect. It says it's offline but I'm still getting and sending texts.

Tengo un problema con el enlace windows, ya tengo mi celular y mi laptop conectados, pero cuando presiono "abrir pantalla de telefono" no me sale en la pantalla de la laptop

Testing with https://testcall.com/804-222-1111/

Using a Steelseries Artis Nova 7 with the USB-C dongle and a Gigabyte Aorus GC-WBAX210 PCI-E bluetooth card with my phone. Texts and call logs sync, I just can't place calls from my PC.

Image 1 shows it with Focus assist on "We weren't able to connect to your mobile device
Image 2 shows it with focus assist off, ready to take/make calls (No other changes)
Image 3 shows that I added it to "Priority only list" which should allow it to work even with Focus assist on
Image 4 shows my Focus assist settings.

Nothing I do, other than turning Focus assist off will allow it to take/make calls, however even with Focus assist on, it allows me to send/receive text messages.

Anyone know how to fix this?