Cross Device Experience Host

Purpose

Identifier: MicrosoftWindows.CrossDevice

Setup Foundry removes the app package for existing user accounts and from provisioning for new accounts.

Cross Device Experience Host supplies Windows features that integrate a linked Android device with the Mobile devices page in Windows Settings and with other system components. Depending on the Windows, Android, and Link to Windows versions, the package supports:

• access to the mobile device’s files, photos, and other media in File Explorer,
• use of the mobile device’s camera as a wireless connected webcam,
• notifications for new photos and screenshots, with options to open or edit them on the PC.

These features require the PC and mobile device to be linked. The necessary Link to Windows permissions must also be granted on the Android device. Microsoft’s current Mobile devices documentation requires Windows 11, Android 10 or later, and network connectivity for both devices. File Explorer access requires Android 11 or later.

Notes

Additional effects

The package connects the Mobile devices settings page with File Explorer, camera applications, and notifications for newly captured mobile-device photos. Microsoft has also identified Cross Device Experience Host as a required component for opening new Android photos and screenshots in Snipping Tool.

Cross Device Experience Host is a separate package from the Phone Link app. Removing it does not uninstall Phone Link. Features supplied through Mobile devices and Cross Device Experience Host become unavailable, while Phone Link features that do not depend on this package may remain present.

Privacy and security

When cross-device features are enabled, the package processes information about the linked mobile device and the content for which access has been granted on Android. Depending on the enabled features, this can include file and folder information, photos and other media, new-photo notifications, and the mobile device’s camera video stream.

Mobile-device files opened through File Explorer can have local copies stored under C:\Users\‹user name›\CrossDevice. Files deliberately copied to another location on the PC remain there after the package is removed. Microsoft does not clearly document whether package removal deletes every local copy already present in the CrossDevice folder, so removal should not be assumed to erase them.

Removing the package stops future access and transfers mediated by this component. It does not automatically delete content already copied to the PC or original files stored on the mobile device. Package removal also does not by itself establish that an existing device or Microsoft-account link has been revoked.

Effects of the change

After removal, features supplied by Cross Device Experience Host through Mobile devices no longer work:

• A linked Android device can no longer be displayed and managed in File Explorer through this component. Its files cannot be opened, copied, moved, renamed, or deleted through this File Explorer integration.
• The mobile device’s camera is no longer available to Windows and desktop applications through the “Use as connected camera” feature.
• Windows no longer produces this component’s notifications for newly captured mobile-device photos or screenshots. Direct handoff of those captures to Snipping Tool is unavailable.
• The management interface for these features may report that the required component is missing or request that it be installed or updated through Microsoft Store.

The package is documented as a background integration component rather than as a general-purpose content application. Its removal therefore primarily removes the cross-device capabilities described above; it does not remove content stored on the mobile device.

Because Setup Foundry also removes the package from provisioning, it is not automatically registered from the local Windows image for user accounts created afterward. Cross Device Experience Host can be installed again from Microsoft Store while Microsoft continues to offer it there.

Notes

Feature availability varies with the Windows version, Android version, device model, and Link to Windows version. Microsoft initially introduced some capabilities through gradual rollouts, so older Windows installations may provide only part of the functionality described here.

Windows or Microsoft Store updates may provision the package again if Windows requires it for an enabled cross-device feature.

Microsoft documentation

Microsoft Support: Manage Mobile devices in Windows

Microsoft Support: Setting up and using your phone in File Explorer

Microsoft Store: Cross Device Experience Host

See also

• Entry in the reference