Android 15 blocked Phone Link from mirroring sensitive notifications, but Microsoft has a fix

Microsoft’s Cellphone Hyperlink app makes it very simple to regulate your Android cellphone from a Home windows PC. It might management your cellphone’s sound settings, present your cellphone’s textual content messages, begin cellphone calls, pull your pictures, and mirror your cellphone’s notifications, amongst different issues. To reflect notifications, Cellphone Hyperlink makes use of Android’s normal API for studying notifications, particularly the notification listener API. Google lately blocked sure notifications from being learn by most notification listeners, leaving Cellphone Hyperlink unable to reflect all notifications. Happily, Microsoft lately rolled out an replace to Cellphone Hyperlink that resolves this subject.

Final yr’s Android 15 replace launched quite a lot of safety adjustments, together with one which protects two-factor authentication codes from malicious apps. Android 15 marks notifications containing these codes as delicate, stopping them from being learn by untrusted notification listener companies. When a notification is marked delicate, its content material is changed with the message, “delicate notification content material hidden.” Whereas this safety characteristic safeguards delicate info, it additionally reduces the comfort of companies like Cellphone Hyperlink.

That’s why Android solely blocks untrusted notification listener companies from studying the complete content material of delicate notifications. Notification listener companies are thought of trusted in the event that they maintain the RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission, which might solely be granted to apps signed by the system vendor, the default dwelling display launcher app, or companion apps for wearables and computer systems.

Though Hyperlink to Home windows serves as a companion app for computer systems, Android doesn’t acknowledge it as such because it doesn’t maintain the required companion system position. Android reserves this position for preinstalled system functions, which implies Hyperlink to Home windows’ skill to learn delicate notifications depends upon whether or not it’s preinstalled in your Android system. If it’s preinstalled, the Cellphone Hyperlink app in your Home windows PC will present a discover that reads: “with the most recent Android updates, Cellphone Hyperlink requires your permission to indicate notifications which can be hidden on your safety.”

Clicking the “setup” button on the discover triggers a dialog in your Android system, prompting you to grant Hyperlink to Home windows entry to “info out of your cellphone.” This dialog states that Hyperlink to Home windows can “learn all notifications, together with contacts, messages, and pictures,” in addition to view pictures and media in your system. Choosing “enable” grants Hyperlink to Home windows the companion system pc position, enabling it to obtain notifications with delicate content material unredacted.

Since this position is restricted to system apps, solely telephones with Hyperlink to Home windows preinstalled can mirror delicate notifications to Home windows PCs. This contains units just like the Xiaomi 15 Extremely and Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, each of which displayed the related discover within the Cellphone Hyperlink app. For telephones with out Hyperlink to Home windows preinstalled, workarounds embrace disabling Android System Intelligence notification processing or manually granting the Hyperlink to Home windows app the RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission, as detailed inside this text.

We commend Microsoft for its continued help of Cellphone Hyperlink via bug fixes and have updates. On condition that Google makes adjustments to Android annually, Microsoft should stay vigilant to maintain the service working as anticipated. Whereas the upcoming Android 16 replace isn’t anticipated to introduce breaking adjustments for Cellphone Hyperlink, we’ll present updates ought to any points come up.