How to use an iPhone in combination with a computer with Windows 10 - Step by step guide

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Let's start with a brief explanation why the combination of Apple's mobile and desktop ecosystem at all is set as a model when it comes to integration between devices.

Well, Apple was the first to introduce a strict connection between its mobile devices and MacOS computers.Initially, it was integration at the application level-e.g. sending SMSs via IMessage from the MacBook level or integration of contacts in the GuyMem video call application.

Since the time of MacOS High Sierra, this integration, however, reaches much deeper, thanks to the function of Continuity.

Continuity includes all Apple devices - from the iPhone, through Apple Watch, iPad, to MacOS computers.As long as the devices have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, they are one coherent, technological body.

Continuity allows for a lot.In the case of an iPhone, these are functions such as:

Of course, there is also an unsurpassed Airdrop, i.e. the function of instant files of files between Apple devices, both belonging to the same owner and to others.

Such a strict integration between a mobile phone and a personal computer does not exist anywhere else in the world of consumer electronics.

Microsoft, however, has to some extent with Apple, implementing its own solution on computers with Windows 10.

Your phone on Windows 10 - how does it fall out with Continuity?

Each computer with Windows 10 is currently equipped with your phone application that allows you to integrate the system with a mobile device.This application is surprisingly powerful, although it is still at a fairly early stage of development.

At the moment, in the application on the computer we can:

Soon a universal storage space will also join the above possibilities, while the streaming of the image will be improved.The universal storage space is available today, with one restriction - it is necessary to use the Swift Key keyboard on a mobile device.Soon this restriction is to disappear, and your phone will integrate with the system storage on the phone.Today, the independently operating universal clipboard can only be used on Samsung smartphones with One UI 2.1, i.e. Galaxy S10, S20 or Flip.

There is only one snag: your phone function, which perfectly replaces Continuity on MacOS, works fully ... only with Android smartphones.When we try to connect the iPhone in this way, your phone application only displays information about the connection and encourages you to use the new version of the EDGE browser.

And since the official system integration of Windows 10 does not work with the iPhone, is it possible to integrate the Apple phone with the Microsoft operating system?

The answer is yes.To a certain degree.

IPhone integration with Windows 10 - what cannot be done?

At the time of writing this text, several activities on the iPhone-Windows 10 line are simply impossible.For example, it is impossible to receive connections from the computer level or send SMSs.It is impossible to use the iPhone as a camera.There is also no universal storage space between devices, although this one is to appear soon if we use the SwiftKey keyboard on the iPhone.

On Windows 10 we will not use the two most popular Apple messengers - Face Time and IMessage.We will not unlock the computer when there is an iPhone nearby, which can be done on the iPhone-macos line.

There is also no way to synchronize passwords between devices.Windows 10 does not have a password manager in itself, while Apple's keys are not synchronized with other systems at all.

So if we want to access passwords on each device, here regardless of the combination of systems you need an external service, such as Lastpass or 1Password.

The above restrictions can not be overcome so far and if someone cares about them, there is no way out-either we use the tandem iPhone-mac or the Android-Windows 10 tandem. There is no other way.

However, if the above deficiencies do not sound terrible (personally I do not even notice them every day), then there are still many functions that can be elegantly integrated between the iPhone and the Windows 10 computer.

IPhone integration with Windows 10 - what can you do?

The combination of Apple's phone and Microsoft's system can run in three ways.

One of them is somehow omitting both companies and using Google's service and application.When we replace the mail, contacts and browser from Google, the synchronization of data between devices becomes very simple, as long on a computer with Windows 10 we will use Google Chrome browser.

Let's assume, however, that we are looking for a deeper integration between two systems, not in the browser.Then we have two options.

The first is the iCloud App for Windows 10.

If you have an iPhone for a long time, but you have just changed your mac to a computer with Windows, this option is for you.You probably soaked into the Apple ecosystem;You store data on the iCloud disk, you use a system photo application to save photos, maybe you are used to using the ICloud Mail mailbox and mailbox.

In this situation, installing the iCloud application is the best option.The application allows for a number of functions - access to the ICloud Drive disk from the Windows explorer level, photo synchronization, synchronization of bookmarks (unfortunately - only in Internet Explorer, so hardly anyone will use it) and integration of mail, contacts, calendars and task list.

After downloading and configuring iCloud App using Apple ID, our files and photos will appear in the Windows explorer, just like any other cloud service.We can move files from the computer or copy files from the cloud to your computer.Documents of a given type - for example, files from a specific application on the iPhone - are grouped in the appropriate folders in the iCloud application.

By default, iCloud App synchronizes mail, contacts and calendar with the Outlook application, but in Windows 10 you can skip this step and synchronize accounts with system post and calendar applications.

To this end, instead of in the iCloud application, we add data and calendar data directly in the aforementioned applications.Just open the Poczta application and add a new iCloud account in the settings.In this way, the mail sent to the Apple service will appear in the system application on Windows 10, and the calendar will appear added on the iPhone.

The second option is to use the Microsoft application on the iPhone.

I personally consider this solution much better and certainly much more effective, if we care about the integration of a computer with Windows 10 and the iPhone, and we are not tied to the Apple ecosystem.

Full integration of this type requires Microsoft 365 to get more space for data and access to office applications, but also in the free versions of the programs listed here, the same effects can be achieved.

The most important element of this connection is the OneDrive cloud.OneDrive is natively available in the Windows 10 explorer. When we install the iPhone application, the Onedrive cloud files will also be available on your smartphone.

What's more, if we include the "photo rolls" function in the IOS application, i.e. recording photos in the cloud, all photos taken with iPhone will not only immediately be saved on OneDRIV, but will also be available directly in the Windows 10 Photos application.

Another element is the Outlook application on iOS.When using it, we synchronize the post office and calendar - Outlook on mobile devices performs both functions.

As soon as we add our Microsoft account to Outlook on the phone, postal, calendar and contacts will automatically synchronize with applications on your Windows 10 computer.

For the synchronization of the task list, we can use the Microsoft To-do application, and instead of application notes on the iPhone-the OneNote notebook, which will also synchronize between iOS and Windows 10.

The connection closing the new Microsoft Edge browser, based on the Windows 10 version on Chromium, which makes it as functional as Google Chrome.In the mobile version it is also one of the best Safari substitutes.

For now, the EDGE browser will only synchronize login details, bookmarks and settings, but soon it will also synchronize the extensions (on computers) and browsing history (between devices).

iPhone and Windows 10 - can it be used together?

From the perspective of someone who has been using such a tandem for nearly 7 months: of course it is possible.

Is this integration at the level that MacOS offers: of course it is not.

All limitations mentioned at the beginning of this text mean that the Apple phone is not and in the predictable future will not be so closely connected to a computer with Windows 10, as you can connect to a computer with MacOS.

Unfortunately, if we care about the experience of similar synergy, the best companion of Windows 10 remains a telephone with Android, especially one of the latest top Samsung models.A certain solution, however, available only to a handful of users, is the Dell Mobile Connect application, which, together with the spring application, is to offer almost the same functions on the iPhone-Windows 10 line, which your phone application after connecting to it with Android smartphone.However, the application is available exclusively for Della laptop owners, it additionally uses the possibilities not officially not supported by Apple, and it is also not known how long this solution will remain an effective option, because Apple can simply "pull the plug out" in the world and block the availability of applications on your smartphones.

However, this does not change the fact that if these restrictions do not bother someone, then the iPhone and the computer with Windows 10 can be integrated to a far -reaching extent.For many users it will be a fully satisfying solution, and most importantly - the very fact that such integration can be done is good news.

This means that none of us has to lock ourselves in a golden cage, which Apple is trying to cover their consumers, or make purchasing choices based on the functions offered by one manufacturer.

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