Microsoft appears to be testing remote power controls inside the Link to Windows app on Android. These options would let users shut down or restart a connected Windows 11 PC straight from their phone. Sleep and the chance to install pending updates before a restart or shutdown sit alongside those commands.
Phone Link already lets Android users pull messages, calls, notifications, photos, and files onto a Windows PC. The new power tools point the other way. They give the phone more direct control over the computer itself.
Microsoft has been expanding smartphone ties with Windows 11. Extra phone details can already show up in the Start menu, and more controls have landed in the system tray. Remote power options fit that same push for tighter links between the two devices.
Confirmation prompts look set to appear before some of the commands run. Restarting or shutting down risks losing unsaved work. Putting the PC to sleep would drop the phone connection until someone wakes the machine again.
The feature has not reached regular users. The controls turned up in an August 25 build of Link to Windows, where they stay disabled for now. Microsoft has not said when—or whether—the tools will ship publicly.
For anyone who has left a PC running after heading out the door, the ability to open Link to Windows and power the machine down from anywhere would cut that worry short.