Microsoft seems intent on expand the functionality of Phone Link introducing the possibility of Remotely control the power status of a Windows 11 PC directly from an Android smartphone. The evidence comes from the analysis of the code of the Link to Windows app, the Android component that communicates with Phone Link on Windows PCs, within which various elements attributable to a new remote control function have been identified.
Phone Link already allows you to connect Android smartphones and Windows PCs to manage notifications, messages and calls, share notes, transfer files and use your smartphone as a webcam. Microsoft has also introduced the ability to remotely lock your computer. The next evolution could extend this mechanism also to restart, shutdown and suspension operations.
The traces were discovered within the Link to Windows Android APK and refer to a component called RemoteControlManager. Among the strings present in the code, the entries “Restart” and “Shut down” appear, to which “Update and restart” and “Update and shut down” are added. The presence of these last two options suggests that Microsoft is integrating remote control with Windows Update, allowing you to complete a pending update through a reboot or shutdown initiated by the smartphone.
The expected operation also includes specific confirmation windows. For normal reboots and shutdowns, a warning about the possible loss of unsaved work is displayed. The operations associated with an update instead include a more explicit message: “You must restart your PC to complete an update. Any unsaved work in open apps on your PC will be lost. Since you are away, you will not be able to save them from here. Do you still want to restart?”. The variant dedicated to shutdown uses an equivalent formulation.
It also appears in the code an option to put the computer to sleep. In this case the warning message specifies: “After suspension, your PC will be disconnected from this device. You will need to go to your PC to reactivate it.” The behavior is consistent with how Windows sleep works: a suspended computer can interrupt the connectivity necessary for communication with the smartphone and therefore cannot be reactivated through the same remote function.
The feature is not yet available to the general public or to users of Windows Insider programs. A debug log relating to a version of the application dated August 25, 2026 shows, in fact, the isRemotePcControlsV2Enabled parameter set to enabled=false, while experimentEnabled is also deactivated. The features are therefore present in the code, but Microsoft has not yet enabled them.
An official timetable for the release has not been communicated, nor is it known through which update the feature could arrive. The available evidence also specifically concerns the Android version of Link to Windows. There is currently no indication that the new controls may also be available on iPhone, considering that Phone Link has historically offered a broader set of features on Android than integration with iOS.
