Microsoft has introduced a sidebar for mobile device in the Start menu of Windows 11, enabling users to easily check their phone’s battery status, notifications, messages, calls, and photos without needing to open the Phone Link app.
The Mobile Sidebar or Phone Link Sidebar is a floating vertical bar that appears to the right of the Start menu of Windows 11. The interface looks beautiful and is capable of dynamically displaying notifications from emails and messages, as well as phone call details.
To activate this feature in the Start menu on Windows 11, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Start and toggle the option for “Show mobile device in Start” to the “On” position. This will allow you to access your mobile device information directly from the Start menu.
Requirements for Enabling the Mobile Sidebar on Windows 11
The Mobile Sidebar or Phone Link Sidebar is available on Windows 11 build 22635.4805 or later (Beta channel). Additionally, it is necessary to update the Phone Link app to the latest version (version 1.24121.30.0 or higher). Optimal connectivity also requires support for Bluetooth LE.
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How to Enable the Start Menu Mobile Sidebar on Windows 11
1. First, link your Android or iPhone to your Windows 11 PC via Phone Link app.
2. Now, open the Settings and click on Personalization.
3. Next, click the Start and on the next page turn on the “Show mobile device in Start” toggle switch.
This will enable the Phone Link Sidebar or the sidebar for your mobile device on Windows 11 Start menu. If the option is missing, you need to enable it manually using the Windows configuration tool Vivetool.
How to Manually Enable Mobile Sidebar on Windows 11
1. First, download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file and unzip the file.
2. Next, copy the path of the extracted folder.
3. Now, open Command Prompt as administrator.
4. Type the following commands to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter.cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x (type cd and paste the copied path)
5. Now, execute below commands one-by-one:vivetool /enable /id:48697323
vivetool /enable /id:48433719
6. Once the command executed and get successfully set feature configuration message, restart the computer.
You have now enabled Mobile Sidebar in the Start menu on Windows 11. You can enable or disable this feature from Windows Start menu settings.
Disable Mobile Sidebar/Phone Link Sidebar on Windows 11
To disable the Phone Link Sidebar on Windows 11, go to ViveTool, open Command Prompt as administrator and execute the below commands one-by-one:vivetool /disable /id:48697323
vivetool /disable /id:48433719
That is all how to enable and disable Windows 11 Start menu Mobile Sidebar on your computer.
Note that clicking on any of the items displayed in Phone Link Sidebar will launch the Phone Link app on your computer rather than directly accessing that particular feature. In essence, this mobile sidebar integration serves merely as a brief overview of your phone’s information. (Source)
