Anyone using 'Your Phone' app in W10 to connect to an Android phone?

I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+
phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can
make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
--
Cheers,
Roger

Roger Mills wrote:

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I haven't used "Your Phone" but it doesn't seem like you're expecting
something it doesn't offer, have you checked the "Calls" section under help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hub/4529948/your-phone-app-help

On 08/07/2020 14:19, Andy Burns wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I haven't used "Your Phone" but it doesn't seem like you're expecting
something it doesn't offer, have you checked the "Calls" section under
help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hub/4529948/your-phone-app-help


Thanks. I saw that, but it doesn't really help. It's more to do with
getting the phone and computer to communicate - which mine do after a
fashion - rather than about how the thing works in detail.
--
Cheers,
Roger

Maybe the phone needs to be set up to use the link for input and output
instead of itself? I can make calls using my echo dot using the address book
in my Iphone and the phone remains silent.
Brian

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On 08/07/2020 14:19, Andy Burns wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I haven't used "Your Phone" but it doesn't seem like you're expecting
something it doesn't offer, have you checked the "Calls" section under
help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hub/4529948/your-phone-app-help


Thanks. I saw that, but it doesn't really help. It's more to do with
getting the phone and computer to communicate - which mine do after a
fashion - rather than about how the thing works in detail.
--
Cheers,
Roger

Roger Mills wrote:
On 08/07/2020 14:19, Andy Burns wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I haven't used "Your Phone" but it doesn't seem like you're expecting
something it doesn't offer, have you checked the "Calls" section under
help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hub/4529948/your-phone-app-help


Thanks. I saw that, but it doesn't really help. It's more to do with
getting the phone and computer to communicate - which mine do after a
fashion - rather than about how the thing works in detail.

I think Bluetooth allows multiple profiles to be open with
a single device.

Maybe a Handsfree profile of some sort, is needed to turn
your computer into a "Bluetooth Speaker" ? Then the question is,
why isn't My Phone doing that for you. A tick box ? Permissions ?
Don't forget all those silly permissions in both phones and
in Windows 10 Settings. You can't expect the My Phone application
to "suggest" a setting.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/27/2...s-10-microsoft

Imagine the fun debugging something like that, and figuring out
what broke.

Paul

Roger Mills wrote:

I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+
phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can
make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I don't use that app, so the following is a guess. When you load a
program or app that issues sound API calls to the OS, it may get listed
in the Sound Mixer (right-click on the sound tray icon, select Open
Volume Mixer). Since Windows 7, each source can be separately
controlled from the base volume. This has ****ed over users ever since
because most just want the volume level the same across all
sound-enabled programs rather than individual volume settings.

With the Your Phone app loaded, is there an entry for it in the Volume
Mixer dialog? You may have to drag the horizontal scrollbar to view all
playback devices. If so, is its volume the same as the base/master
volume level (often marked as Speakers, but depends on what you selected
as the Playback device in the sound config)? If it's there, also check
that it is not a muted source (the speaker icon under the volume
slider).

Some programs add their own playback device (software based or
virtualized device). Go into the old Control Panel (control.exe) under
Hardware and Sound, and click on Sound. You get one of the old wizards
that Microsoft is trying to eliminate, but have yet to incorporate all
the same features into their new Settings wizard. Under the Playback
tab, normally the Speakers device is selected as the default playback
device. Did the Your Phone app add its own sound device to that list?
For example, this is where I have to go to switch to my USB headset when
I plug it in to switch audio from speakers to the headset.

Not all Bluetooth devices properly report their capabilities. Go into
the Bluetooth devices list (enter "bluetooth" in the taskbar's search,
and pick "Bluetooth and other devices"), and right-click on your phone
and select Properties. Yeah, another Settings dialog that is worthless.
Scroll down in the right panel to select "Devices and printers". Your
BT paired phone should be listed there. I don't have a BT device
currently paired to my PC, so I cannot walk the path to the properties
of the device to check its capabilities. In all the online articles I
found, none focused on configuring which capabilities (BT protocols) a
device would support. My recollection is you went into the properties
of the BT device and under there was a list of different BT protocols
you could disable or enable. Been too long, but I remember having to go
there to enable a BT audio protocol to get remoting to the phone to work
for audio. When you look at the Properties of the BT device, you should
get the old-style properties dialog with General, Hardware, Services,
and Bluetooth tabs. I suspect you go under the Service tabs (different
BT protocols are also called services, not in an NT service running in
the background but as a protocol that supports a type of service or
function).

Ah, found online images of the Services tab (articles were useless, so
instead I searched on images), which were at:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wp-co...4/services.png
https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cxs3l.png
https://i.stack.imgur.com/rsUq2.jpg

The list of services, and even their names, might not match what you see
in your list of "Bluetooth Services". The list is affected by the type
of BT device. I had to play around enabling one at a time, test if
problem got resolved, deselect (put back to old setting), and try
another.

On 08/07/2020 20:14, VanguardLH wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:

I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+
phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can
make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?

I don't use that app, so the following is a guess. When you load a
program or app that issues sound API calls to the OS, it may get listed
in the Sound Mixer (right-click on the sound tray icon, select Open
Volume Mixer). Since Windows 7, each source can be separately
controlled from the base volume. This has ****ed over users ever since
because most just want the volume level the same across all
sound-enabled programs rather than individual volume settings.

With the Your Phone app loaded, is there an entry for it in the Volume
Mixer dialog? You may have to drag the horizontal scrollbar to view all
playback devices. If so, is its volume the same as the base/master
volume level (often marked as Speakers, but depends on what you selected
as the Playback device in the sound config)? If it's there, also check
that it is not a muted source (the speaker icon under the volume
slider).

Some programs add their own playback device (software based or
virtualized device). Go into the old Control Panel (control.exe) under
Hardware and Sound, and click on Sound. You get one of the old wizards
that Microsoft is trying to eliminate, but have yet to incorporate all
the same features into their new Settings wizard. Under the Playback
tab, normally the Speakers device is selected as the default playback
device. Did the Your Phone app add its own sound device to that list?
For example, this is where I have to go to switch to my USB headset when
I plug it in to switch audio from speakers to the headset.

Not all Bluetooth devices properly report their capabilities. Go into
the Bluetooth devices list (enter "bluetooth" in the taskbar's search,
and pick "Bluetooth and other devices"), and right-click on your phone
and select Properties. Yeah, another Settings dialog that is worthless.
Scroll down in the right panel to select "Devices and printers". Your
BT paired phone should be listed there. I don't have a BT device
currently paired to my PC, so I cannot walk the path to the properties
of the device to check its capabilities. In all the online articles I
found, none focused on configuring which capabilities (BT protocols) a
device would support. My recollection is you went into the properties
of the BT device and under there was a list of different BT protocols
you could disable or enable. Been too long, but I remember having to go
there to enable a BT audio protocol to get remoting to the phone to work
for audio. When you look at the Properties of the BT device, you should
get the old-style properties dialog with General, Hardware, Services,
and Bluetooth tabs. I suspect you go under the Service tabs (different
BT protocols are also called services, not in an NT service running in
the background but as a protocol that supports a type of service or
function).

Ah, found online images of the Services tab (articles were useless, so
instead I searched on images), which were at:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wp-co...4/services.png
https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cxs3l.png
https://i.stack.imgur.com/rsUq2.jpg

The list of services, and even their names, might not match what you see
in your list of "Bluetooth Services". The list is affected by the type
of BT device. I had to play around enabling one at a time, test if
problem got resolved, deselect (put back to old setting), and try
another.


Many thanks for that - there are a lot of good suggestions there.
Meanwhile, I've pretty much decided that there are some compatibility
issues with my cheapo BT dongle, because it was telling me in one place
that the devices were paired and in another that my PC didn't have BT or
that it wasn't turned on. I have ordered (what I hope is) a better one.
I'll have another go when that arrives, and look closely at your
suggestions if I still have issues.
--
Cheers,
Roger

Roger Mills wrote:

Many thanks for that - there are a lot of good suggestions there.
Meanwhile, I've pretty much decided that there are some compatibility
issues with my cheapo BT dongle, because it was telling me in one place
that the devices were paired and in another that my PC didn't have BT or
that it wasn't turned on. I have ordered (what I hope is) a better one.
I'll have another go when that arrives, and look closely at your
suggestions if I still have issues.

Did you use Device Manager and get some chipset info
from the HardwareID ?

Maybe there are some notes out there on the chip.

For example, mine is a Broadcom. And it would be using the
built-in profiles and driver code. Whereas on Windows 7,
I would be using the WIDComm software on the DVD in the box.

It could be, that the disagreement on whether a BT dongle
is present, is caused by some "Bluetooth" service. Take
a look in services.msc and see if there's a Bluetooth item and
it's started.

Paul

Different "services" (1) are available in different BT versions. Make
sure the new BT dongle supports BT 3.x, or higher. I had an old BT 1.x
dongle that was pretty much useless except for file transfer.

(1) The "services" (protocols) you see listed in the properties of a BT
device (right-click on the BT device listed in Control Panel to show
its properties, and go under the Services tab). Not the NT service
defined in services.msc. The Bluetooth services listed in the
Services app (services.msc) might be set to Manual startup (they
start when called by some process), but the BT device itself still
doesn't have full support for all its features. The BT device is
supposed to send a list of attributes that define the protocols
(services) the device supports. I had a BT Boombot speaker where
all Bluetooth was configured correctly, and the device was paired to
my computer, but still had audio problems until I went into the
Properties of the BT device and enable some of the services listed
under the Services tab.

You didn't identify which BT dongle you tried. With the new
replacement, make sure it supports BT 3.0, at a minimum. BT 4.x have
some more features (faster, lower energy, using BT for the handshake but
passing the connection to wifi which is faster), but you won't need
those extra features. Just make sure the BT radio in your phone also
supports BT 3.0, or higher.

https://www.androidcentral.com/moto-g6-specs

According to that, the G6 support BT 4.2 and the G6+ support BT 5.0, so
a BT 3.0 dongle will suffice, but a higher BT version would be better.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=blueto... 315449%208000

That lists some USB BT dongles sold at Newegg (and by Newegg, and not
some 3rd party using Newegg to frontend an e-store for the 3rd party).
BT 4.0 dongles go for about $20. I got the Asus BT400 from them for an
old computer that didn't have a BT radio. It's now sitting in a drawer
since my new build has a BT radio on the mobo (but I don't use BT
anymore, so I disable BT in Windows).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...nts-and-set-up

Yeah, useless to determine which connection methods are supported. Even
Bluetooth isn't mentioned there. From that article, you install the
Your Phone app on your PC, Your Phone Companion on the Android phone,
and also the Link to Windows app on the Android Phone. Did you install
all three? The Your Phone Companion will require permissions which you
should get prompted to allow. If you don't allow those permissions,
that ancilliary app will likely not function properly. Apparently,
since this is a Microsoft app, it uses a Microsoft account, so both the
PC and the Android phone must be logged into Microsoft; i.e., you need a
Microsoft account on both devices. The Microsoft account is used to
link the PC and phone (in addition to the BT which is the physical
connection).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4531298

Well, that page mentions using wifi, like for data sync and for "improve
the connection". If the Your Phone can use wifi to connect the phone to
your PC then dump Bluetooth and go with wifi (faster, more reliable,
easier setup). Yet ...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...nd-using-calls

says you need to use Bluetooth to make/receive calls. Seems stupid they
would support wifi from some transfer protocols but not for calls.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3445...o-your-pc.html
"Make sure both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network for easier
communication."

https://www.xda-developers.com/micro...gy-connection/

That says Microsoft Bluetooth, but maybe just the BLE protocol. The
Link to Windows app uses wi-fi, a much better choice for wireless
connection. If you can go to wi-fi, stop trying to use flaky confusing
Bluetooth.

There are so many configurations for Bluetooth that are disconnected or
presented poorly that getting it to work only happens for simplistic BT
devices that can manage to work under a standard BT device type. If you
give up on the Your Phone app and using BT to remotely control your
phone from your PC, you might what to look in other ways to remote to
the phone. For example, instead of using an app that represents its own
functions to impose on the phone, you could mirror the phone on the PC
screen to operate your phone on your PC just like you use the phone.
The ones that I've tried in the past were Mobizen and AirDroid (via
their AirMirror app). I think even Teamviewer has something like this
to remotely control an Android phone on a PC.

Usually those type of remote tools require you enable Developer Mode on
the phone, so you can then go under that settings category to enable USB
Debugging mode. You have to install an ADB (Android Debug Bridge)
driver on the PC. You can connect the phone to PC using a USB cable,
via Bluetooth, or even across the Internet (the PC and phone use a
service through which the data gets sent between them. I remember
AirDroid let you remotely control your phone using a USB cable
(fastest), Bluetooth (slower), or through their web site (slowest but
depends on your bandwidth). I think they dropped Bluetooth support
because it was flaky to setup properly and still flaky during operation,
so they went to USB cable or over the web. For wireless, I suspect they
went to WiFi Direct (the PC supports wifi and the phone support wifi
hotspot). Wifi works so much easier to setup and manage out-of-the-box
than Bluetooth.

One way, like with Your Phone, is for an app to emulate some
functionality of a phone, but they present their own screen or GUI.
Another is to actually see the phone's screen on your PC, and manipulate
your phone that way. Instead of just accessing the calling functions of
your phone, you can access any app on your phone (Google Maps, WhatsApp,
store apps, service apps, or any other app on your phone, including your
phone's Phone app). I suppose you could even install AirDroid onto a
different phone to use its camera and mic as a remote baby monitor or
security camer in another place over the Internet.

It's been too long since I used mirroring setup between phone and PC to
remember how they handled sound, like whether the phone made the rings,
used its mic and speaker, or if the mirroring app on the PC issued the
audio using the PC's speakers and used the PC's mic. These mirroring
tools presented the phone's screen on your PC screen.

On 7/8/2020 9:09 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+
phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can
make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
I've been using it now for about a month or 2. Previously, I was using
a 3rd party app (Mighty Text) to allow me to see texts to my Samsung S7
on my PC. It was not reliable and did weird things. The Your Phone app
seems to work much better. I can see and send texts on my S7 via the
PC. It's especially handy when you do a two step verification when
someone sends you a code to unlock their access; easy to copy and paste
the code. BTW, sorry I can't help as it seemed to work right out of the
"box".

On 09/07/2020 13:38, Todesco wrote:
On 7/8/2020 9:09 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC
and have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto
G6+ phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I
can make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
I've been using it now for about a month or 2.Â* Previously, I was using
a 3rd party app (Mighty Text) to allow me to see texts to my Samsung S7
on my PC.Â* It was not reliable and did weird things.Â* The Your Phone app
seems to work much better.Â* I can see and send texts on my S7 via the
PC.Â* It's especially handy when you do a two step verification when
someone sends you a code to unlock their access; easy to copy and paste
the code.Â* BTW, sorry I can't help as it seemed to work right out of the
"box".

But are you using it for making hands-free voice calls on your PC, or
only for texts? Mine is ok for texts because it can use WiFi for that -
but it's when it needs bluetooth for voice calls that it doesn't work
properly.
--
Cheers,
Roger

On 7/9/2020 9:26 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
On 09/07/2020 13:38, Todesco wrote:
On 7/8/2020 9:09 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC
and have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto
G6+ phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where
I can make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For
incoming calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the
car where only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
I've been using it now for about a month or 2.Â* Previously, I was
using a 3rd party app (Mighty Text) to allow me to see texts to my
Samsung S7 on my PC.Â* It was not reliable and did weird things.Â* The
Your Phone app seems to work much better.Â* I can see and send texts on
my S7 via the PC.Â* It's especially handy when you do a two step
verification when someone sends you a code to unlock their access;
easy to copy and paste the code.Â* BTW, sorry I can't help as it seemed
to work right out of the "box".

But are you using it for making hands-free voice calls on your PC, or
only for texts? Mine is ok for texts because it can use WiFi for that -
but it's when it needs bluetooth for voice calls that it doesn't work
properly.
No. I actually have a Pansonic cordless phone that blutooths to my
cell. So I can use it to make and receive cell calls ... and it has a
speakerphone built in. Also, I have 4 handsets. While one person is
talking on one handset on the landline, another handset can be talking
using the cell. I only wish that Panasonic system had a port for a 2nd
landline as my phone company gives me a free 2nd landline. I do have
that line tied to the computer modem for receiving faxes.

Roger Mills wrote:
I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+
phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can
make and receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone
and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book
and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't
hear ringtone or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at
all unless I click on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the
phone, but that defeats the whole object of the exercise. For incoming
calls, both the phone *and* the PC ring - compared with the car where
only the car speaker rings.

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
I don't think you have a supported device for phone calls
See
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ne-experiences

But texting works with my Moto G6

Roger Mills wrote:

I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop
PC and have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my
Moto G6+ phone running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car
- where I can make and receive calls using the car's speaker and
microphone.]

I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The
phone and PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos,
address book and call log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial
calls - but I don't hear ringtone or speech through the PC's
speakers.

If it wasn't already suggested...

Unless the program sets it up for you (entirely possible, I dunno)...

You cannot expect a sound source to automatically come through your
speakers. You must select the source in sound properties. For
example... I have a connected USB microphone. The specific device
properties must be adjusted. Windows calls the Marantz USB microphone
"OPHONE"...

Microphone Properties Listen...

Listen to this device (checked)

Playback through this device (the speakers)

Also a possible concern...

Recording What U Hear

I wrote:

I have a connected [Marantz] USB microphone.

BTW... It's for security, to bring the outside sounds in. My cats enjoy
it, too. Difficult to believe how good it sounds. I had never heard a
microphone with ZERO noise. Strange. Good strange.