Android 15 Blocked Phone Link From Mirroring Sensitive Notifications, But Microsoft Has A Fix

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Microsoft’s Phone Link app makes it very easy to control your Android phone from a Windows PC. It can control your phone’s sound settings, show your phone’s text messages, start phone calls, pull your photos, and mirror your phone’s notifications, among other things. To mirror notifications, Phone Link uses Android’s standard API for reading notifications, specifically the notification listener API. Google recently blocked certain notifications from being read by most notification listeners, leaving Phone Link unable to mirror all notifications. Fortunately, Microsoft recently rolled out an update to Phone Link that resolves this issue.

Last year’s Android 15 update introduced a number of security changes, including one that protects two-factor authentication codes from malicious apps. Android 15 marks notifications containing these codes as sensitive, preventing them from being read by untrusted notification listener services. When a notification is marked sensitive, its content is replaced with the message, “sensitive notification content hidden.” While this security feature safeguards sensitive information, it also reduces the convenience of services like Phone Link.

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A notice in Phone Link warning the user that Android 15 blocks sensitive notifications from being mirrored.

That’s why Android only blocks untrusted notification listener services from reading the full content of sensitive notifications. Notification listener services are considered trusted if they hold the RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission, which can only be granted to apps signed by the device vendor, the default home screen launcher app, or companion apps for wearables and computers.

Although Link to Windows serves as a companion app for computers, Android does not recognize it as such as it does not hold the required companion device role. Android reserves this role for preinstalled system applications, which means Link to Windows’ ability to read sensitive notifications depends on whether it’s preinstalled on your Android device. If it’s preinstalled, the Phone Link app on your Windows PC will show a notice that reads: “with the latest Android updates, Phone Link requires your permission to show notifications that are hidden for your protection.”

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

A notice in Phone Link informing the user that they can grant the app access to sensitive notifications from their Android device.

Clicking the “setup” button on the notice triggers a dialog on your Android device, prompting you to grant Link to Windows access to “information from your phone.” This dialog states that Link to Windows can “read all notifications, including contacts, messages, and photos,” as well as view photos and media on your device. Selecting “allow” grants Link to Windows the companion device computer role, enabling it to receive notifications with sensitive content unredacted.

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Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

Since this role is limited to system apps, only phones with Link to Windows preinstalled can mirror sensitive notifications to Windows PCs. This includes devices like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, both of which displayed the relevant notice in the Phone Link app. For phones without Link to Windows preinstalled, workarounds include disabling Android System Intelligence notification processing or manually granting the Link to Windows app the RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission, as detailed within this article.

We commend Microsoft for its continued support of Phone Link through bug fixes and feature updates. Given that Google makes changes to Android each year, Microsoft must remain vigilant to keep the service working as expected. While the upcoming Android 16 update isn’t expected to introduce breaking changes for Phone Link, we’ll provide updates should any issues arise.

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