Windows 10: This new Insider preview build lets you access Android apps on your PC

Windows Insiders will be able to get hands-on with Windows 10’s new Android app streaming feature from today as Microsoft pushed its latest Preview Build to the Dev channel.

Microsoft announced a major update to its Your Phone app during yesterday’s
Samsung Unpacked event

that will allow owners of select Samsung devices – including its latest
Galaxy Note 20 smartphone

– to stream multiple apps directly to their Windows 10 PC.

SEE: Windows 10 Start menu hacks (TechRepublic Premium) 

The update to the Your Phone app allows users to link their smartphone to their Windows 10 device and access their Android apps from a menu on their Windows desktop. When a user launches an app it opens in a separate window, allowing them to interact with multiple applications at once and carry work, web browsing and social media seamlessly from one device to the other.

While the new integration isn’t planned for general release until later this year, Windows Insiders will get a jump on the new feature: Microsoft announced that the new apps experience in Your Phone is gradually rolling out Windows Insiders “on a PC that is configured to be in the Dev, Beta, or Release Preview.” The ability to run multiple apps simultaneously will be introduced at a later date, Microsoft said.

“Starting today, Android phones supporting Your Phone app’s Phone screen feature will be able to preview the Apps feature,” Microsoft said.

The announcement was made in the same post in which Microsoft introduced Windows 10 Preview Build 20185, which has been released to Windows Insiders via the Dev Channel.

The latest update, which succeeds
Preview Build 20180 launched last week

, brings improvements to Windows 10’s DNS settings, making it more easily accessible, top-level from within the network properties page. Windows 10 users can also now encrypt DNS over HTTPS (DoH) directly from the Settings app for added privacy and security while browsing the web.

SEE: Cheat sheet: Windows 10 PowerToys (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Any IP address listed here can be added to unlock the DoH dropdown, where users can then select encryption. For unrecognised DoH servers, users can configure an IP address to be by using the netsh command documented, which Microsoft outlines here.

New mobile device management (MDM) policies for ADMX files are also included in Preview Build 21085, alongside a bunch of the usual fixes, among them a remedy for a widely reported issue that could result in the network icon in the Taskbar saying there was no internet, despite there being an active connection.

Microsoft has also fixed an issue in which the “close all windows” action in the Taskbar did not close all of the open tabs for pinned sites.

A full list of the updates, fixes and improvements in the new Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20185 can be found here.

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