What is YourPhone.exe on Windows 10 & Is it Safe?

Yourphone.exe is quite a new feature in Windows 10 which many people haven’t heard of before. You might be curious about what it is (and whether or not you should stop it).

What is YourPhone.exe Windows 10

As you know, Windows uses a collection of apps and system processes to run. These processes make your computer run, produce graphics so you can log on, get online, pull up webpages and so on.

Unlike system processes you are used to seeing, such as svchost.exe for example, yourphone.exe is brand new, which is why a lot of people are curious about what it is as well as how safe it might be.

What is YourPhone.exe And What Does ‘Your Phone’ App Do?

If Windows Task Manager shows you yourphone.exe, it means the Your Phone app is running in the background on Windows 10.

YourPhone.exe - Task Manager
YourPhone.exe in the Task Manager

This app is a new feature which lets you sync your Windows device with a device running Android 7 or newer.

You can use this app to see your device notifications (such as new messages) directly from your computer screen without having to look directly at your Android device.

ioS users can still use the app but only for browser link sharing; there are not any other features for iPhones or iPads at this time.

If you still want to use Your Phone, you will need to install Microsoft Edge on your iOS device to make it compatible.

The app also allows you to share images and files between devices and reply to texts using your PC keyboard instead of your device.

This app was designed by Microsoft so it’s perfectly safe and compatible with Windows 10.

Can It Be Disabled?

Like any other non-essential Windows process, you can disable Your Phone if you choose to, by manually stopping it with Task Manager.

Another way is to change your Windows settings to stop it running in the background.

If you use Windows PowerShell you can even get rid of it entirely.

How to Stop Yourphone.exe Process Manually

It is possible to stop this process manually using Windows Task Manager.

  1. Either press Ctrl, Shift and Esc together or right-click on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to open Windows Task Manager.
  2. Look for “Your Phone” – it might be running in the background and show as YourPhone or open and running as Your Phone.
  3. Right click on it and select End Task.
How to stop YourPhone.exe Process

This will stop it running until next open the app manually or reboot. If you are using the features of the app, it will stop it from running as a background process. Any messages or other notifications from an Android device will not be synced to your PC.

How to Disable the Your Phone App

If you aren’t going to use this process and you reboot every day (and don’t want to turn it off manually every day) you might prefer to disable it.

  1. Right click on the Start menu then click on Settings.
  2. Click on Privacy then Background Apps. You will see all the apps which can run in the background.
  3. Scroll down to find the Your Phone app, then toggle the slider to off.
YourPhone.exe - Disable Your Phone App

When you next switch on your computer, the app will not open or run unless you open it yourself. If you never open it, you will never see it. It is still on the PC though, in case you change your mind and want to use it in future.

How to Remove Your Phone App with Windows PowerShell

If you disable the app with Windows Task Manager it will not run but will still be on your computer. If you prefer to completely remove it, that is also possible. To do this, you will have to use Windows PowerShell.

As a rule, it isn’t a good idea to start removing built-in components of Windows, but Your Phone is safe to remove and won’t mess anything up.

This is because it is not a core system component and therefore its removal won’t affect anything else. If you do remove it, you won’t be able to sync your Android device with Windows. If you decide you want it back in future though, you can always reinstall Your Phone.

  • To get started, right click on the Start menu and type PowerShell.
  • Type Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage and press enter.
YourPhone.exe - Windows 10 - PowerShell
YourPhone.exe – Windows 10 – PowerShell

You will not see any confirmation if this was successful. You might have to remove the Your Phone app installation files too.

  • Open the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ folder in your Windows File Explorer.
  • Now look for a folder starting with Microsoft.YourPhone. If there is more than one, find the one with the correct system architecture tag (for example x32 or x64).
  • Right click on it and press delete.

This removes all the app files for Your Phone. You might have to press continue in the ‘folder access denied’ popup if it requires permission to delete. If it will not delete, you will have to use a Windows PowerShell command:

Remove-Item -path “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.YourPhone_1.20081.117.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

You might have to replace part of this path with the right one for your PC. It depends on the app version you are using. Now press Y and this will confirm.

If you get an error, ensure the Your Phone app is not still running. Use the -Force tag at the end of the command. This forces Windows to delete all the files.

Be Careful with Windows 10 Essential System Processes

Although Your Phone is optional and deleting it will not harm your PC, you need to be careful with other components, such as msmpeng.exe which is critical to your PC running properly.

Although it is possible to remove Your Phone following the above instructions, it is easier to simply disable it.

If you see any other Windows 10 processes you are not sure about, consider a malware scan to check they are secure.

There are plenty of both free and paid antivirus apps you can use such as the built-in security tool that comes with Windows 10.

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