iPhones, Android Phones Will Play Nice With Your PC With Intel's Help

If you're an Apple user, you know how its devices work together seamlessly. Samsung has likewise improved its Galaxy device integration in the past few years. Now Intel plans to roll out some of the same device integration to other Windows PCs with its Unison software, the company said Tuesday. 

Unison will make it possible to connect Android and iOS phones to Windows PCs, uniting multiple screens in one place. You'll be able to send and receive text messages from your PC, get phone notifications, make and answer phone calls, and view and transfer files, photos and videos from your phone. It sounds similar to Microsoft's Your Phone app, but with support for both Android and iOS, not just Android phones.

Unison is built on technology from Screenovate, a software company Intel acquired last year. It first demonstrated its capabilities at CES 2022 in January. The technology uses local Wi-Fi networking or peer-to-peer connection over the network, and Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy when necessary, to make the integration experience possible.

Read more: Intel Hopes 13th-gen Is Lucky, Brings 'Raptor Lake' Updates to PCs

But there's a catch. 

Intel Unison will only be rolling out to select 12th-gen Intel Core processor-based Intel Evo designs this holiday season, Intel said in its announcement. Early designs from Acer, HP and Lenovo will be made available but no specific models were mentioned. Unison availability will increase early next year with the release of Evo designs running on 13th-gen Intel Core devices. 

Also, unlike with Apple and Samsung, the Intel solution doesn't seem to extend the integration to things like wireless earbuds or using a tablet as a secondary display wirelessly. At least not yet.