Windows 11 replicates an Apple syncing feature that integrates phones and PCs

Microsoft is bringing Apple’s “Handoff” functionality to Windows 11 with a new feature called…Hand Off.

X user @techosarusrex first posted a screenshot of the “Hand Off” feature toggle in the Settings of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4225 which was released late last week.

Tweet may have been deleted

What does “Hand Off” do? Well, Mac users will be very familiar with this feature because it already exists with Apple’s similarly-named “Handoff” feature.

Microsoft’s Hand Off vs. Apple’s Handoff

Hand Off basically allows users to continue whatever they were doing on one device seemingly on another device. For example, if a user utilizes the continuity feature on the Mac, they can pick up where they left off reading an article on Safari for iPhone. The Windows 11 feature will work similarly, allowing both iPhone and Android users to hand off what they were doing on their mobile device to their PC.

As the MSPowerUser blog points out, Microsoft has previously experimented with device syncing features, although none of those attempts quite replicated exactly what’s possible on the Mac. 

Microsoft has tested out a “Continue from Phone” feature in OneDrive that lets users sync what they were doing with their OneDrive files between their PC and mobile device. In addition, Microsoft has the “Link to Windows” app in Apple’s App Store which helps share data like notifications and contacts between the iPhone and PC. However, this experience is no where near how intuitive Mac’s Handoff feature is.

With Apple’s Handoff, all a user needs to do is check their macOS dock to see the mobile version of the app they have open on their iPhone. By just clicking on that app icon, the iPhone and Mac sync their experiences.

Will Windows 11’s Hand Off feature work just as well? As this feature is still only available as a test in a beta build, we may have to wait a bit longer to find out.