Windows 11, Android Samsung Flip 5, Phone link suddenly stopped working

Question

Windows 11, Android Samsung Flip 5, Phone link suddenly stopped working

Steve B 25

Hello-

I have Phone Link on my Windows 11 PC and an Android Samsung Flip 5 phone.

Suddenly, Phone Link has stopped working. Nothing changed between my phone and my PC- it just suddenly stopped working. It's worked for months but now I get a "We're unable to connect to your devices" screen showing. I've troubleshooted this problem with CoPilot AI but it just goes in circles. Here are my symptoms and what I've done so far:

Uninstalled/reinstalled Phone link with great difficulty as it is not listed as an installed app on my Windows 11 PC even though it is installed

Tried to reconnect my phone using that UPC code thing that Phone Link does

Checked to make sure Phone link is turned on within the menus of my Android Phone

My phone is connected to the same wifi network as the PC

My phone says that it is connected to my PC via bluetooth

That's all I've got.

If you help me thanks, but hopefully you can stay with me until we can get this problem solved?

Thanks for your time in advance

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Lychee-Ng 26,200 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Steve B,

As a Phone Link user myself, I understand how frustrating it is when the app suddenly not working anymore without any obvious change. Since you've already tried all the common troubleshooting steps, I've to admit, there's not many things left that we can do from user-side. Still, there are a few suggestions:

1 - Completely unlink and relink the phone

On your PC, open Phone Link > Settings > Devices
Remove the existing phone if it appears > close Phone Link.
Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices > remove the phone.
On your Samsung phone, open Link to Windows:
- Select the PC > Unlink the PC > sign out and unlink account
- Close the app > open its details page > clear all data and cache.
Restart both your PC and phone > relink the connection from scratch.

2 - Check Samsung battery optimization

On the Flip 5, open Settings > Apps > Link to Windows' details page
Check Battery section (if available) > set to Unrestricted or Disable.

3 - Uninstall latest Link to Windows Service updates

On your phone, open Settings > Apps > search Link to...
If you see Link to Windows Service entry, select it
Look in the details page for Uninstall option
If found, uninstall the latest updates > close app
Once done, relink the connection following #1 above.

In addition, there have been previous reports from users where Phone Link stopped connecting despite no intentional changes, and in some cases the issue was resolved after app or Windows updates. If that's the case, then unfortunately the only reasonable path would be to wait for any further fixes released.

If you think the answer is helpful to you, please mark this as accepted. If you have extra questions about this answer, feel free to click "Add Comment" and ask!

Note: Follow the steps in our documentation if you want to enable and receive the related email notifications for this thread.

Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T05:01:35.64+00:00

Thanks for trying Lychee but unfortunately those steps did not work : (
Lychee-Ng 26,200 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T06:30:33.26+00:00
That's really unfortunate then, Steve B. I still have three other suggestions, you can try out if you like. It's better to do them in order and try all three together after doing each:

Repair/reset Phone Link:

On your PC, open Settings > System > System components

Find Phone Link > click three-dot > Advanced options

Scroll to the bottom, click Terminate > then Repair

If the issue persists, go back and click Reset.

Uninstall the latest updates:

Follow the same #3 as my answer above, but not Link to Windows Service

This time just find Link to Windows app > also Uninstall its latest updates.

Reinstall Phone Link application:

You mentioned this in your post, but I'm not certain if you've done it or it was too complicated to perform.

Open PowerShell (Admin) > run Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

Once done, restart your PC > reinstall it from: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nmpj99vjbwv

If it's still not working after everything, and since the error said "unable to connect," I think it'd be helpful if you can test it on another network or PC (if possible). Like if Phone Link works between your phone and another PC, it means your current PC might not working correctly, and vice versa.
Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T06:37:47.53+00:00

Thank you for your time, unless you're a bot.....then you won't care if I thank you for your time or not : )

Just to add more datapoints, I have a laptop with phonelink and the phone continues to work with the laptop as always, just not with my desktop. Also on my desktop, I installed and reinstalled Phone Link and now it appears to be working normally. However, it did this behavior a couple of days ago, and when I came down the next day and booted up my computer, it stopped working again.

But I am out of town for a few days but when I get back I will try your steps if it fails to connect again with my phone.
Lychee-Ng 26,200 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T08:17:10.4366667+00:00

Well, Microsoft Q&A does have an AI assistant answer if you choose it, actually! But if you are getting answers from us accounts then no, we're all users like you! That's why our answers don't always solve your problems right away, because sometimes we also haven't encountered such issue, or we couldn't find a guaranteed way to fix it yet.

Anyway, sorry if my tone made you feel like talking to a bot, I just want to keep it professional. Feel free to reply in your free time, I'll also try to get back in my time frame.
Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T17:06:24.5733333+00:00

No no I do appreciate your time! I was stating that tongue firmly planted in cheek. AI is so good now it's hard to tell if we're talking to a person or a bot...not that you sounded like a bot.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T05:01:35.64+00:00

Thanks for trying Lychee but unfortunately those steps did not work : (
Lychee-Ng 26,200 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T06:30:33.26+00:00

That's really unfortunate then, Steve B. I still have three other suggestions, you can try out if you like. It's better to do them in order and try all three together after doing each:

Repair/reset Phone Link:

On your PC, open Settings > System > System components

Find Phone Link > click three-dot > Advanced options

Scroll to the bottom, click Terminate > then Repair

If the issue persists, go back and click Reset.

Uninstall the latest updates:

Follow the same #3 as my answer above, but not Link to Windows Service

This time just find Link to Windows app > also Uninstall its latest updates.

Reinstall Phone Link application:

You mentioned this in your post, but I'm not certain if you've done it or it was too complicated to perform.

Open PowerShell (Admin) > run Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

Once done, restart your PC > reinstall it from: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nmpj99vjbwv

If it's still not working after everything, and since the error said "unable to connect," I think it'd be helpful if you can test it on another network or PC (if possible). Like if Phone Link works between your phone and another PC, it means your current PC might not working correctly, and vice versa.
Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T06:37:47.53+00:00

Thank you for your time, unless you're a bot.....then you won't care if I thank you for your time or not : )

Just to add more datapoints, I have a laptop with phonelink and the phone continues to work with the laptop as always, just not with my desktop. Also on my desktop, I installed and reinstalled Phone Link and now it appears to be working normally. However, it did this behavior a couple of days ago, and when I came down the next day and booted up my computer, it stopped working again.

But I am out of town for a few days but when I get back I will try your steps if it fails to connect again with my phone.
Lychee-Ng 26,200 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T08:17:10.4366667+00:00

Well, Microsoft Q&A does have an AI assistant answer if you choose it, actually! But if you are getting answers from us accounts then no, we're all users like you! That's why our answers don't always solve your problems right away, because sometimes we also haven't encountered such issue, or we couldn't find a guaranteed way to fix it yet.

Anyway, sorry if my tone made you feel like talking to a bot, I just want to keep it professional. Feel free to reply in your free time, I'll also try to get back in my time frame.
Steve B 25 Reputation points

2026-08-04T17:06:24.5733333+00:00

No no I do appreciate your time! I was stating that tongue firmly planted in cheek. AI is so good now it's hard to tell if we're talking to a person or a bot...not that you sounded like a bot.

Answer 1

Steve B 25

It looks like uninstalling and reinstalling the Phone Link App on the computer for the third time solved the problem. No idea why, but it has suddenly started working as suddenly as it stopped working. Lychee thanks very much for your time!

Lychee-Ng 26,200 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-10T06:00:01.2866667+00:00

Glad that at least it's working now! Sometimes the components in the application are corrupted, and by reinstalling it a few times, those can be corrected eventually!