The short answer: Android doesn’t send notifications to a computer by itself; an app on the phone has to read them and pass them on. On Windows, Microsoft’s Phone Link does it with your Microsoft account. On any computer with Chrome or Edge, a browser extension paired with an app on your phone can do it over your own Wi-Fi, with no account at all. Which one fits depends on your computer and on where you’re happy for your messages to travel.
You’re typing, the phone lights up face-down on the desk, and you pick it up to find a delivery update. Then it happens again. Seeing those notifications on the screen you’re already looking at saves a lot of reaching.
Why your computer can’t see them on its own
A notification only exists on the phone. The app that posted it, WhatsApp say, talks to its own servers and shows the alert through Android. Nothing in that chain knows your computer is there.
To get it onto the computer, something on the phone has to read the notification as it arrives and send it across. On Android that’s notification access, the same permission a notification history app uses. Every option below is built on it; they differ in how the notification gets from the phone to the computer.
Your options, by computer
- Windows 10 or 11: Phone Link. Microsoft’s own app, paired with the Link to Windows app on the phone and signed in with your Microsoft account. It shows notifications and also covers texts, photos and, on some phones, calls. It’s Windows only.
- Linux, and Windows or macOS builds: KDE Connect. Open source, runs on your local network, and needs its app installed on both the phone and the computer. It does much more than notifications, which also means more to set up.
- Cloud mirroring services. Several apps mirror notifications through their own servers, so they work away from home too. The trade is an account, and your notification text passing through someone else’s servers; check whether a service encrypts it end to end before you rely on it.
- A browser extension paired with your phone. Works on anything that runs Chrome or Edge (Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS) and needs nothing else installed on the computer. That’s how NotiWeave does it, described next.
Getting notifications in Chrome or Edge with NotiWeave
NotiWeave already reads the notifications of the apps you choose so it can keep them as chat threads. Connect to PC sends them on to NotiWeave for PC, a free extension for Chrome and Edge that’s coming soon to the Chrome Web Store. They go straight from the phone to the computer over your Wi-Fi, end-to-end encrypted, with no account and no NotiWeave server in between.
The link, what's shared and every paired computer on one screen. Give each computer a name you'll recognise, and the list tells you when each one last connected.
Setting it up:
- Add the extension to Chrome or Edge. Its popup shows a QR code straight away.
- Keep the phone and the computer on the same Wi-Fi. Guest networks that keep devices apart from each other won’t work.
- In the app, open Settings → Connect to PC and tap Scan QR code from PC, then point the phone at the code. It connects within a second or so.
- Allow desktop notifications when the extension asks, so messages pop up even while the browser is in the background.
- Choose which apps reach the computer under Apps to push. Your banking app, for instance, can stay on the phone.
After that there’s nothing to open. The extension reconnects by itself whenever both are on that Wi-Fi, including after the computer restarts, and it doesn’t need a tab.
What comes with it
- The whole notification. The app, the sender or group, and the full text, not a truncated preview. The popup keeps a recent list you can filter by app.
- One-click codes. When a notification carries a sign-in code, the desktop notification gets a Copy code button, so you never type six digits off a phone screen again.
- Clipboard sync, both ways. Off until you turn it on. Copy a link on the computer and paste it on the phone, or copy on the phone and paste on the computer. Phone to computer happens by itself if you allow NotiWeave’s copy watcher in Android’s Accessibility settings; otherwise use Share → Send to PC.
- Computers you can tell apart. Name each one on the phone (tap the pencil next to it), or set a Computer name in the extension’s settings. Each shows when it last connected.
How it stays private
The phone only accepts a browser whose QR code it has scanned, so nobody else on the Wi-Fi can pair with it, and it never shows a pairing prompt to a stranger. The phone and the extension agree on a key when you scan (ECDH P-256), and everything between them is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. You can remove a pairing from either side at any time. The details are in the privacy policy.
It’s Android only, and the phone does the work: if NotiWeave is stopped on the phone, nothing arrives. The support page covers keeping it running on phones that close background apps.
Common questions
Do I have to keep a browser tab open?
No. The extension works in the background while the browser is running, and it reconnects on its own after a restart.
Does it work when I’m away from home?
Only when the phone and the computer are on the same Wi-Fi network. Nothing is relayed over the internet, which is also why there’s no account.
Can I reply to messages from the computer?
No. It shows notifications, copies codes and shares the clipboard; replies happen on the phone.
Will it drain my battery?
While a computer is connected, the phone holds one small connection on your Wi-Fi and checks in every 20 seconds; between notifications that’s all it does. Switching off Push to PC closes it completely.
Can I connect more than one computer?
Yes, pair as many as you like. One is connected at a time, and naming them keeps the list clear.
What about my banking app’s notifications?
NotiWeave never keeps notifications from banking apps, and you choose which of the rest reach the computer. The same list is also where you keep a noisy app on the phone only.
The notification was always on the phone; the question is only how it reaches the screen in front of you. If you’re on Windows and already use your Microsoft account everywhere, Phone Link is built in. If you’d rather it stay between your own two devices on your own Wi-Fi, a paired extension does the job in any Chromium browser.