Some changes are nice, and some are just bad that cannot be justified. As you know, Windows 11 allows you to use Android and iPhone to access some features of your phone directly from the desktop. While it’s good as long as it works, there are times when you may want to unlink your phone.

In the case of the Phone Link app, there was an option to unlink/unpair the phone from the app’s settings. But after some updates, the toggle to remove the connected phone surprisingly disappeared. Right now, if you go to Phone Link > Settings > Devices, you’ll find all your phones listed, but the toggle to remove the phone is not there anymore.

Phone Link app unlink mobile

This has been an issue for about 10 months now and Microsoft hasn’t done anything about hundreds of feedbacks. You can sign out of your account, add a new device, and switch accounts, but you cannot remove the phone that you don’t want to be used by the Phone Link app anymore.

However, it looks like there could soon be a way to unlink an Android or iPhone from Windows 11. While it’s not directly related to Phone Link, which still doesn’t have the toggle, we’re talking about the new “Mobile Devices” settings page.

Mobile devices page

Windows 11’s built-in Mobile Devices settings page allows you to use your Android phone as a web camera, browse files directly in File Explorer, and more.

At the moment, when you click the Manage Devices button, you can view all the features available with the connected phone, but you cannot remove the phone.

Manage mobile devices
The option to remove the phone is missing

You can sign out of your Microsoft account, but the toggle to remove the phone is not available.

Remove phone from Windows 11

However, this is finally changing. As shown in the above screenshot, you’ll be able to click the “Remove from account” button to unpair the phone,

A pop-up with confirmation options also appears. You can just select “Remove” to delete the phone from the “Manage mobile devices” settings.

Remember that the toggle will not remove the phone from your Microsoft account. Removing this device will remove it from all your device lists. However, the device might appear on Windows devices and Microsoft products and services. If it still appears, you’ll need to remove it there.

As noted by Phantom on X, Microsoft is still testing the idea, so it’s not available for everyone yet. We tried the newer builds of Windows 11 and we were not able to find the toggle.

Also, it’s very important to note that the toggle probably doesn’t solve the problem completely because the Phone Link app still doesn’t have the option to remove the phone.

You need to remove the phone from the Phone Link app separately, which has no control over the “Mobile devices” page. Confusing mess, right? Welcome to Microsoft’s world.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar option is added back to the Phone Link app at some point in future. Baby steps, but Microsoft is finally listening to some of the feedback.

About The Author

Mayank Parmar

Mayank Parmar is an entrepreneur who founded Windows Latest. He is the Editor-in-Chief and has written on various topics in his seven years of career, but he is mostly known for his well-researched work on Microsoft's Windows. His articles and research works have been referred to by CNN, Business Insiders, Forbes, Fortune, CBS Interactive, Microsoft and many others over the years.