There are two completely different versions of this problem and they have nothing in common. On an iPhone, Phone Link photos are not broken, they were never there. On Android they do work, and when they stop it is almost always one of five things. Find your case below.
The quick answer: if your phone is an iPhone, stop looking. Phone Link has no photo transfer for iPhone, only calls, messages and contacts. If your phone is Android, the usual culprit is battery optimisation putting the Link to Windows app to sleep. Set it to Unrestricted and photos usually come straight back. Free on the Microsoft Store
If you have an iPhone, the answer that saves you an hour: there is no photos feature to fix
This is worth stating plainly because almost nothing online does:
- Phone Link's photo transfer is an Android feature. On Android it mirrors your recent camera roll into a panel you can drag from. That panel is what every screenshot in every article shows.
- iPhone support covers calls, messages and contacts. Photos are not included, and there is no photos section for a linked iPhone.
- Pairing successfully proves nothing. The connection works, the phone shows as linked, and the capability you came for is simply absent. That combination is exactly what makes people reconnect and reinstall for an hour.
- It is not a permission, a setting or a Windows version. Nothing on either device will make it appear.
- The reason is the platform, not neglect. iOS restricts the kind of background access to a photo library that this feature needs, which is why Apple's own AirDrop is the only thing that does it seamlessly on an iPhone, and only to other Apple devices.
On Android photos do work, and battery optimisation is the reason they usually stop
If photos worked once and then quietly stopped, this is the first thing to check and the most likely answer:
- Android puts background apps to sleep to save power, and Link to Windows is exactly the kind of always-listening app it targets.
- The symptom is a slow decay, not a clean failure. Photos stop updating, the panel shows older pictures, and reconnecting fixes it briefly before it drifts again.
- Set the app to unrestricted. On the phone, open Settings > Apps > Link to Windows > Battery and choose Unrestricted. The wording varies by manufacturer.
- Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus add their own layer on top. Look for extra power-saving or "protected apps" settings and allow Link to Windows there too, because the Android setting alone is often overridden.
- Aggressive battery savers undo this silently. If it starts failing again weeks later, check whether a battery-saving mode has switched itself back on.
The permission that breaks it without any error message
- Link to Windows needs access to photos and media. Without it the app still connects, messages still work, and the photos panel is simply empty.
- Check at Settings > Apps > Link to Windows > Permissions and allow photos and media access.
- An Android update can reset this. Newer versions have narrowed media permissions, so an app that had access before may quietly have less after an upgrade.
- "Allow only while using the app" is not enough for a feature whose whole job is to work while you are not looking at your phone.
Same account, same network: the two conditions people assume are met and often are not
- Both ends must use the same Microsoft account. A work account on the PC and a personal one on the phone will pair and then behave strangely.
- Some features need both devices on the same Wi-Fi. A phone that has dropped to mobile data will keep showing as connected while transfers fail.
- Guest networks split them without warning. The phone on the guest SSID and the PC on the main one is a common household setup that breaks this.
- A VPN on either device can be enough to break it, since it changes what the two can see of each other.
- Both apps need to be current. Update Phone Link from the Microsoft Store and Link to Windows from Google Play, then restart both.
What Phone Link is genuinely good at, and where it is the wrong tool entirely
- It is very good at notifications, messages and calls. Answering a text from your keyboard is the feature worth having it for, and it works reliably.
- The photos panel is a convenience, not a transfer tool. It shows recent pictures, not your library, so it is no help finding something from last month.
- It is Android-only for photos and always will be, most likely. If you have an iPhone and a Windows PC, this is not the product for you.
- It depends on a background service staying awake, which is precisely the thing phone makers keep trying to prevent. That fragility is structural, not a bug that will be fixed.
A route that works from either phone, without a background service to keep alive
If what you actually want is specific photos on your PC, rather than a mirror of your recent camera roll, there is a more direct way, and it works the same on an iPhone as on Android.
- Camera to Clipboard works from both iPhone and Android. No difference in features between the two, which is the gap Phone Link leaves.
- You choose the moment. You pick the photos, one or a batch, and send them, rather than relying on a service that has to stay awake in the background waiting.
- It lands on the clipboard. Ctrl + V puts it in the email or document you are working in, with no dragging from a panel and no file in Downloads.
- No Microsoft account, no Google account, no Apple ID. The photo goes directly between the two devices over your own network, encrypted, and is never uploaded.
- It works with no internet, on an offline router or your phone's own hotspot, which is more than Phone Link manages.
Every Phone Link photo problem, with how likely it is and how long the fix takes
Click any column header to sort (best first; click again to reverse).
| Cause | Applies to | How common | Time to fix | Can it be fixed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No photos feature on iPhone | iPhone | Very common | Never | No, use another method |
| Battery optimisation | Android | Very common | A minute | Yes |
| Photos permission missing | Android | Common | A minute | Yes |
| Different Microsoft accounts | Both | Occasional | A few minutes | Yes |
| Devices on different networks | Both | Occasional | A minute | Yes |
| Out-of-date apps | Both | Uncommon | A few minutes | Yes |
Common questions about Phone Link and photos
Why does Phone Link not show photos from my iPhone?
Because the feature does not exist for iPhone. Phone Link's photo transfer works with Android phones only. Its iPhone support covers calls, messages and contacts, and there is no photos panel for a linked iPhone, so no amount of reconnecting or reinstalling will produce one.
Why have my Android photos stopped appearing in Phone Link?
The most common cause is Android battery optimisation putting the Link to Windows app to sleep in the background. Set that app to Unrestricted battery usage. After that, check it still has permission to access photos and media, and that both devices are signed in to the same Microsoft account.
How do I get a photo from my phone to my PC when Phone Link will not do it?
Use a direct transfer over your local Wi-Fi instead. Camera to Clipboard works from both iPhone and Android, puts the photo straight onto the PC's clipboard so you can paste it, and does not depend on a Microsoft account or a background service staying awake.