If Phone Link is stuck while connecting your phone and PC, reviewing permissions, pairing devices, or scanning QR codes, then this post will help you. Phone Link is a nice app that helps you instantly access your Android and iOS devices from your Windows PC. However, some users have reported that it is forever stuck on connecting devices.
Why is my Phone Link not connecting?
If the Phone Link app is not connecting to your Android or iPhone device or is stuck while connecting the devices, it might be the case that your network connection is not working properly, the battery-saver mode is enabled on your computer or phone, the app is outdated or it could be a corrupted app cache and a corrupted app.
Phone Link Stuck on Connecting, Review permissions, Pair devices, QR Code or Link Account and Device
If your Phone Link app is stuck on connecting devices, reviewing permissions, scanning the QR code, or linking devices, here are the methods you can use to fix these issues:
- Perform some initial checklists.
- Completely close the Phone Link app and reopen it.
- Make sure the Phone Link app is up-to-date.
- Unlink and then re-link your devices.
- Repair or reset the Phone Link app.
- Clear the Link to Windows cache on your phone.
- Reinstall the Phone Link or Link to Windows app.
1] Perform some initial checklists
There are some preliminary checks that you can perform to ensure that the Phone Link app works properly. Here is the initial checklist you must follow:
The first thing to check is that the Battery saver mode is not enabled on your computer or phone. If that’s the case, it will affect the connectivity and the Phone Link app might get stuck on connecting. So, disable the Battery saver mode on Windows as well as on your Android phone and then check if the issue is resolved.
Also, make sure both devices are connected to an active WiFi connection. For a faster and more reliable connection, ensure that both devices are connected to the same WiFi network.
Another thing to check is that you are signed into the same Microsoft account on both Phone Link and the Link to Windows app.
2] Completely close the Phone Link app and reopen it
The first thing you can do is terminate the linking process, completely close the Phone Link app, and then reopen it to link your device to Windows again. To do that, right-click on the Phone Link app icon from the system tray and then choose the Quit option to close it. Meanwhile, close the Link to Windows app on your phone and then reopen it.
Once done, restart the Phone Link app on Windows, enable Link to Windows on your phone, and start the phone linking setup to check if the problem is resolved.
Read: Fix Phone Link notifications not working or syncing.
3] Make sure the Phone Link app is up-to-date
If your Phone Link app is outdated, you might face such issues. So, update the Phone Link app to its latest version and check if it helps. Here’s how:
First, open the Phone Link app and click on the gear-shaped icon (Settings) from the top-right corner. After that, go to the About tab and click on the Check for updates button. If there are updates available, they be downloaded and installed. You can then reopen the app and check if the problems are resolved.
You can also use the Microsoft Store to update the Phone Link app.
Additionally, make sure the Link to Windows app on your phone is up-to-date.
See: YourPhone.exe High CPU Usage on Windows.
4] Unlink and then re-link your devices
You can also try unliking and then relinking your devices in the Phone Link app to check if the problem is resolved. Here’s how you can do that:
- First, go to the https://account.microsoft.com page and sign in to your Microsoft account.
- Now, move to the Devices section.
- Next, click on the Manage option under the Android & iOS device management section.
- After that, you can select the Unlink option for the device you want to unlink.
- Once done, try linking your devices again in Phone Link and see if the issues are fixed.
See: Fix Phone Link won’t generate QR code or PIN.
5] Repair or reset the Phone Link app
It could be a corrupted app cache or user data associated with the Phone Link app causing the issue. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, you can repair or reset the app to fix the issues. Here are the steps to do that:
- First, open the Settings app using Win+I.
- Now, go to the System tab and click on the System Component option.
- Next, scroll down to the Phone Link app and click on the three-dot menu button next to it.
- After that, choose Advanced options, and under the Reset section, press the Repair button to repair the app.
- Check if the issue is resolved. If the problem remains, you can click on the Reset button to reset the Phone Link app to its original defaults and see if it helps.
Read: Troubleshoot Phone Link app problems & issues on Windows.
6] Clear the Link to Windows cache on your phone
The next thing you can do is clear the Link to Windows app cache on your phone. It could be a corrupted cache on your phone causing the issue. So, clearing the cache on your phone should help you fix the issue.
If you are trying to link an Android device, here are the steps to delete the Link to Windows app cache on your phone:
- First, open the Settings on your Android phone.
- Now, go to the Apps section and then choose the Link to Windows app under Your apps.
- Next, click on the Storage option and then tap on the Clear cache button from the bottom right corner.
- Once done, reopen the app and then initiate the phone and PC linking process.
Read: Make Phone Link app Sync over mobile data in Windows.
7] Reinstall the Phone Link or Link to Windows app
If the above solutions don’t work, you can try reinstalling the Phone Link app on your Windows PC. Here’s how you can do that:
First, open an elevated Windows PowerShell window and enter the below command to uninstall the Phone Link app:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
When the Phone Link is uninstalled, restart Windows and then reinstall the Phone Link app from the Microsoft Store. You might not be able to find the app on the Store by manually searching for it. So, you can visit the Phone Link app page in a web browser and then click on the Install button. After that, open the link in the Microsoft Store and then press the Get button to reinstall the app.
Once the app is reinstalled, you can check if the problem is resolved.
On the other hand, the problem might be with the Link to Windows app on your phone. Thus, you can uninstall the app from the Play Store or App Store on your phone and then install it again to check if the issue is fixed.
I hope this helps!
Also read: Phone Link app not working or will not open on Windows.
How do I stop a Phone Link process?
To disable Phone Link on Windows, open the Settings app, go to the Bluetooth & devices > Phone Link option, and switch off the Phone Link toggle. Besides that, you can also disable Phone Link on startup using the Settings > Startup options or Task Manager.
