How to make and receive calls on your PC without reaching for your phone.

In these unprecedented times, many of us are working from home on computers and at times, more often than not, juggling between the computer and the phone. But it does not have to be that way. It is possible to use both without any juggling. How? With Microsoft's Your Phone App for Android. This app will get your phone and your Windows 10 computer talking to each other and will route notifications, text messages to your PC. The most exciting feature is the ability to make and receive phone calls on your PC without touching your phone. 

For the magic to work, you will need a PC running Windows 10 version 1803 or higher and a phone running Android 7 or higher. Sorry Mac and iPhone users, nothing for you here.

• Download Microsoft's Your Phone app from the Google Play Store.
• Download Your phone app for your PC from the Microsoft Store. 

You must sign in with a Microsoft account both on your PC and in the app on your phone. After you've signed in, they are ready to talk to each other. But first, make sure both devices are connected to the same network; That would be your home Wi-Fi. You will receive a notification on your phone asking that you allow the connection between your devices. Go ahead and hit allow and Android phone will appear in the Your Phone app on the PC

Open Your Phone on your PC. You will see Calls in the left column. But before you can start using it, a Bluetooth connection must be established between your phone and the computer.

Click Calls and Get Started. Your PC will ask whether you want to "Let Your Phone make phone calls?". Click Yes. From there, just follow the on-screen instructions. Enable Bluetooth on your phone and click Setup on the computer. Click Pair if both PIN matches. That's it. You're all set.

You will see the phone dialer on your PC. Start dialing or use the Search box to find contacts stored on your phone. Note that you can easily switch back to your phone during a call.

Let me know if run into problems during setup or have questions.

Skype will now appear as an option when tapping a phone number on your device.

Better late than never goes the saying and that is what I'm tempted to say about Skype for Android which finally supports Android call intents. In Android, an intent is what allows an app to use another app component to achieve a task. How does that apply to Skype and particularly this update? 

Microsoft updated Skype for Android with the ability to initiate a call by tapping a phone number in a browser or inside an app. From now on, Skype will be among the apps listed when you tap a phone number alongside other apps installed on your Android device. Similar to when you tap on an email address and your device will show all available email apps for you to choose from which app and account you want to send your email. 

This is a great feature provided you have Skype credits. In order to make calls to landline or mobile phones from Skype, you must buy credits to do so and $10 is the cheapest value you can buy; which is quite cheap.

This update also includes the usual bug fixes and other improvements. Download/update Skype in Google Play Store.