Microsoft is trialling a ‘Resume from your phone’ feature in Windows 11 that lets you pick up an Android task on your PC.

It’s early days, and only ‘Windows Insiders’ – members of Microsoft’s public beta testing program – are involved in the trial. What’s more, it lives in Dev/Beta channels, requires Link to Windows and currently only works with Spotify.

You get a taskbar alert when Spotify is active on your phone. Clicking on the alert opens it and Spotify’s desktop app then continues with the same track or podcast.

In short, it is Apple’s Handoff feature rejigged for Windows.

Soon Microsoft users will also be able to easily switch from device to device

Apple’s Handoff has long let users move activities like Safari pages, Mail drafts or calls across iPhone, iPad and Mac with a dock/lock-screen prompt.

Other major players long ago followed Apple’s lead.

Samsung’s ‘Continue apps on other devices’ and Phone Link let Galaxy users move browsing and some first-party tasks and mirror apps to Windows PCs.

Likewise, Google’s Phone Hub can stream Android apps to Chromebooks.

Microsoft’s version mirrors the same ‘pick up where you left off’ flow.

Windows has long lagged competitors on cross-device continuity.

It’s now presumably worried that Microsoft customers are completing tasks on their phones that are better suited to their PCs.

This may be leading to suboptimal CX, given Microsoft users’ inability to move seamlessly between whichever devices are best suited to the task at hand.