Did you notice yourphone.exe in Task Manager? Or did you see Your Phone in your Windows 10 start menu? The yourphone process is one of the processes that is running in the background of your Windows 10 system.
In this article, you’re about to learn what yourphone.exe does, how to stop or remove it, and whether it’s a virus (spoiler: it’s NOT) or a CPU guzzler (spoiler: neither)
What is Your Phone?
The Your Phone app enables you to connect to your iOS iPhone or Android phone with your Windows 10 device. Depending on what kind of smartphone you have, it allows you to:
- Link your phone and PC to unlock a variety of cross-device experiences. (Android and iPhone)
- See recent photos from your phone on your PC. (Android only)
- View and send text messages from your PC. (Android only)
- Answer phone calls
- Play and control music
- Screen mirroring (Android only)
As you can see, Android users benefit more from the Your Phone app than iOS users do. But as an iPhone user, I’m still enthusiastic about the functionality this free app offers.
Keep in mind this app is a Universal Windows Platform App (UWP) that is only available for Windows 10 and Xbox. It is not available and does not run on Windows 7 or Windows 8.
What is yourphone.exe?
Yourphone.exe is the main process of the Your Phone application in Windows 10. The default location for this app file is:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.YourPhone_1.20051.89.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
The file size of YourPhone.exe is only 19KB. Instead, it relies on many DLL files to function.
The interesting fact is: yourphone.exe won’t show up in your Task Manager, – as long as you don’t trigger the Your Phone app to start -. Once you’ve started it, it will always run in the background during your Windows sessions. Also when you open and close the app.
How to install the Your Phone app
As I explained before, the Your Phone app is preinstalled in Windows 10. However, it IS possible to uninstall the app (I’ll explain this later on in this article).
If it’s not available on your PC, you can download and install it from the Microsoft Store. To re-install the app, follow these steps:
- Open the Microsoft Store
- Search for Your Phone
- Click Get to install
- Once installed, the Your Phone app is available from your Start menu. You may also run it directly from the Microsoft Store app by clicking Open
How to disable Your Phone from running in the background
As it is a Universal Windows App, you can easily disable Your Phone from running in the background by using the Settings app. Follow these steps:
- Click Start
- Type Background apps and click Open
- Scroll down to Your Phone and untick. This will set the option to Off
- Settings will have effect after you log out and log in. You can verify by opening the Task Manager and search for YourPhone.exe. It will not be on the list.
Should I uninstall the Your Phone app?
No. There’s no need. Your Phone (and it’s related process yourphone.exe) is not a virus, malware or bloatware. In addition, it consumes very little system resources. If you really want to get more performance out of your pc, there are better ways to increase your Windows 10 performance.
Also, if you share your computer with other people, there’s a good possibility someone else does use Your Phone because of the nice benefits it offers. If you uninstall the app, other users may lose their settings and personal data.
System Administrator tip:
I would only advise you to uninstall Your Phone if you’re, let’s say, creating a new Windows image for highly-secured or mission-critical devices. But then again, there are better ways to do that and other security measures to consider.
So, no: save your time 🙂 But if you really, really want to, read the next paragraph. 🙂
How to uninstall Your Phone
Your Phone is a builtin Universal Windows Platform App. Therefore, you cannot uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs or Add or Remove Programs. In App Settings, the uninstall button is greyed out and is not clickable.
Instead, to uninstall the Your Phone app from your computer, follow these steps:
- Start Powershell as an administrator
- Type Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
- A notification about Deployment Operation progress pops up and disappears again. Your Phone is now uninstalled.
- You can verify this by typing Your Phone in the Windows Search Bar. It won’t return the Your Phone app as a search result.
You may also search for Your Phone in the Microsoft Store. It will then tell you you may install the app, but it isn’t installed right now.
How to repair YourPhone app
In case the Your Phone app isn’t working correctly, you’d best try to repair the app first. To repair the Your Phone app, follow these steps:
- Click Start, and search for Your Phone
- Right-click and click App Settings
- In the Settings window, scroll down and click on Repair
If a Repair doesn’t fix your problem, try Reset from the same App Settings window. If Reset doesn’t solve the issue either, try to uninstall the app (as I described above) and install the app from the Microsoft Store again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is yourphone.exe a virus?
The process yourphone.exe is not a virus, but a legitimate process in Windows 10. It is the main file for Your Phone which offers you communicative possibilities with your iOS/Android Phone.
Is yourphone.exe safe?
YourPhone.exe is a safe process that runs in the background of Windows 10. It is part of the Your Phone app and may show up in Task Manager. Although it doesn’t take much resources, you may still disable it.
How to delete my old phone from Your Phone?
To delete your phone from the app, go to https://account.microsoft.com/devices/Â . From there, you can view your devices and remove the phone.
The yourphone app on my pc indicates “your iphone is linked” and other related info., but I can do literally nothing with it. No settings, no sync, no nothing. I have repaired and reset – same result. Am I missing something? All I want to do is make calls from my PC through my phone. I could use semaphore faster, at this point.