Phone Link for macOS Brings Link to Windows Features to Apple Desktops
An independent MIT-licensed client uses Microsoft's Link to Windows app to bring notifications, messaging, screen mirroring, file transfer, and call controls to macOS.
A Familiar Workflow on a New Platform
The project begins from a familiar friction point. The developer writes that they switched from Windows to macOS and missed the way Microsoft’s Link to Windows ties an Android phone to a desktop. Phone Link for macOS is the result: an independent client that signs into the same Microsoft account and connects to the Link to Windows app already running on the phone. It is MIT licensed and explicitly unrelated to Microsoft.
The README lists a broad set of features. Users can view and reply to notifications, with per-app control over which ones appear. Messaging covers SMS, MMS, and RCS. Contacts, recent calls, and photos are browsable from the Mac. Screen mirroring can show the whole phone or a single app, and the phone’s camera can work as a webcam. Files move in both directions, with phone files landing in Downloads > Mobile Devices. The clipboard syncs text and images across devices, media playback can be paused or skipped, and a menu bar item shows battery and signal, toggles Do Not Disturb or ringer, rings the phone, or joins its hotspot.
Call Controls Without Mac Audio
Calls require a closer look. The app can place, answer, decline, and end calls from the Mac, but the audio path stays on the phone. The developer explains that macOS does not give apps a voice link to a phone over Bluetooth, so there is no Mac microphone or speaker involvement. That removes mute, hold, keypad, and moving a call to the Mac. Incoming call alerts also arrive only while Phone Link is open. These constraints are listed as “Differences from Windows” in the documentation, and they reflect a deliberate choice to avoid unsupported system integration. The result is a call-control layer rather than a full calling client, which matches the Show HN summary saying the app supports most features of the Windows client except calling.
Other differences follow the same guardrails. Users sign in inside the app’s own window, not through system-level pairing. The phone cannot wake the Mac or start a connection to it. The app checks for updates once a day, with options for beta versions in Settings. Signing out deletes locally stored messages, photos, contacts, and notifications; logs redact personal details before they are saved for bug reports.
Installation and Build Requirements
Installation requires macOS 14 or later and an Android phone with Link to Windows. The dmg is available from GitHub Releases. After opening the app, users sign in with a Microsoft account and pick a paired phone or scan a QR code. The build path is also documented: Xcode 26 or later, Rust, just, and python3, with just dmg producing the installer. The Rust core sits in an engine directory alongside the phonelink CLI, while the SwiftUI app lives in a gui directory. The camera feature has an extra dependency: a paid Apple Developer account and a provisioning profile with the System Extension capability. Everything else works without it, and developers can sign with their own team or use ad-hoc signing, though ad-hoc signing triggers repeated keychain prompts after each build.
The README includes a disclaimer that the software is provided “as is” and that users bear the risk of any action Microsoft may take on their account or devices. That language is standard for unofficial clients, and it matches the project’s positioning: a practical bridge for people who want Link to Windows-style integration on macOS, with clear boundaries around what the platform will allow. The HN submission has drawn only one point and no comments at the time of writing, so this is an early-stage release rather than a reviewed or widely tested tool.