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3 best ways to use Windows 11 on iOS and Android
Windows 11 is a great and reliable desktop operating system that many people are familiar with. Now that Windows on Arm is a real thing, you might have this question: can I run Windows 11 on my iOS or Android device? The short answer is, well, no. There's no official or third-party solution that supports Windows natively on Android phones, tablets, iPhones, or iPads. With that being said, there are some workarounds that aim to bring some or all of the Windows 11 experience to mobile devices â with varying degrees of success.
Let's review the ways that you can access Windows from a flagship phone or tablet, from least to most useful. Depending on why you want to use the operating system on your mobile device, you might find value in deploying any or all of these solutions in your workflow.
Phone Link
You won't be running Windows on your Android or iOS device, but you'll bridge the three ecosystems
The easiest, and most limited, way to use Windows from a mobile device is with Phone Link and Link to Windows. Admittedly, this isn't a full-fledged way to access your Windows PC from your mobile device. Instead, it's designed to let you share files, media controls, clipboards, and more between the devices. It also works over Bluetooth, so the two devices will need to be nearby in order for Phone Link to be successful.
The value of using Phone Link is simply derived from its ease of use. You can set it up between an iPhone or Android device using the Phone Link app on Windows and the Link to Windows app on your mobile device in just a few minutes. Plus, if file and clipboard sharing are your main reasons for needing to access a Windows PC from your phone, this method will do the trick. If you're interested, we've got a full guide on how to set it all up below.
How to use Phone Link with an iPhone
Own an iPhone and also use Windows 11? You can now see your texts right on your PC using the Phone Link app.
Winlator and UTM
Two ways to emulate Windows 11 on a smartphone or tablet, with varying results
We know why most of you are here, and that's to find a true way of running Windows 11 on an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. The best way to achieve that goal is through emulation. It's easier on Android than iOS, thanks to the availability of Winlator. It's a Windows emulator for Android that's quite simple to set up, and even has the performance capabilities to run PC games on your mobile device. Of course, you'll be running a desktop operating system on lesser hardware, so you should have reasonable expectations before getting started.
There are some hardware requirements and recommendations to keep in mind, like how Winlator prefers Qualcomm Snapdragon processors as opposed to Samsung Exynos or MediaTek Dimensity systems-on-a-chip. Still, the app is the simplest and closest to a true Windows 11 solution for Android that you'll find. If you want to try it out, we have a beginner's guide below.
A beginner's guide to emulating Windows games on a smartphone using Winlator
Installing Winlator is fairly straightforward, but you'll need to modify several settings to get playable frame rates
What about iOS and iPadOS? Emulation is still the way to go, but it's not quite as easy as Winlator on Android. By default, Apple doesn't allow just-in-time (JIT) compilation, which makes it tricky for modern OS emulation and virtualization on iPhones and iPads. The best workaround available is to download UTM from AltStore, a third-party app store that's only officially available in the European Union. From there, you'll need to install AltJIT to manually enable JIT compilation, as this is needed to virtualize Windows 11.
Put simply, this is not a project for the faint of heart. There's a tutorial for installing AltJIT on the AltStore FAQ page, but it requires using X code Command Line Tools, and we wouldn't recommend attempting it without prior knowledge and expertise.
There is another way, and that's to run a build of Tiny 11 a micro-sized version of Windows optimized for lesser hardware on UTM SE. This is a version of UTM publicly available for all iOS and iPadOS devices via the App Store, but it lacks JIT compilation. I used UTM SE to run Windows XP on my iPad Pro, although without JIT, it's hardly capable of running Windows 11. With that being said, it is possible to run a Tiny 11 build of Windows on iOS or iPadOS using UTM SE, albeit at the speed of a crawl.
My iPad finally runs a desktop OS, but it's Windows XP here's what it was like
UTM SE let me virtualize a desktop operating system on my iPad, and naturally, I tried Windows XP.
Microsoft or Chrome Remote Desktop
The most reliable way to access Windows 11 on an iOS or Android device
If you're not satisfied by emulation, the best way to run Windows 11 on mobile for most people will be with remote desktop software. This could be with Microsoft Remote Desktop, Chrome Remote Desktop, or another solution of your choice. The way it works is simple. You'll create a connection between an iPhone, iPad, or Android device and your home Windows PC. From there, you can control your PC remotely, having the power of a full-fledged desktop at your fingertips.
Again, it's not quite like having Windows 11 running natively on your mobile device. However, this method gives you more power and reliability than emulation. As such, it's the one we recommend, and we have a guide to getting started here. The Windows app is available on Android, iOS, and iPadOS, and it serves as the home for your remote PCs, cloud PCs, and more.
Everything you can do with the new Windows app on macOS, iOS, and Android
It's more than a Microsoft Remote Desktop rebrand
Will there ever be a real way to use Windows 11 on iOS and Android?
The best Macs now use Apple silicon processors that are based on the same architectures found in iPhones and iPads. The same general idea applies to Windows on Arm laptops that use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platform, which is based on the rest of Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. It has many power users salivating at the idea of running Windows 11 on Arm natively on iPhones, iPads, or Android devices.
Still, we wouldn't hold out hope that this will ever be possible. For the time being, Microsoft Phone Link, emulation, or remote desktop software are your three best ways to access Windows from a mobile device.
