How to Add or Remove Apps from Windows 11 Start Menu
Phone Link can pin apps from your phone to the Windows 11 Start menu . This guide covers how to add them and how to remove them again.
Open Phone Link on your PC, click Apps, right-click the app you want, and select Add to Start. To remove it, right-click the app on your Start menu and select Remove from Start. This works only with Android phones linked to Phone Link.
Phone Link connects your phone and PC over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth . You can manage text messages, check notifications, and run mobile apps from your desktop.
It does more than run apps. Once your phone is connected, you can make phone calls and adjust audio settings from the PC. It also works alongside options like choose how to display notifications, choose to hear audio from the PC or phone, control whether the Phone Link app syncs over mobile data (when not connected to Wi-Fi ), unlink your phone from Windows, enable or disable auto startup for the phone Link app, send and receive text messages from the app, add or remove Phone Link on the widgets board, turn dark mode on or off, open your phone screen in the app, turn show notifications for all my apps on or off, show notifications in the Phone Link feature feed, enable or disable using Phone Link with Windows suggestions, open Phone Link notification banners in the mobile app or Phone Link, enable or disable Phone Link to show text messages, enable or disable Phone Link to make calls from your mobile device, and more.
A recent Phone Link update added a feature many users asked for: putting mobile apps directly on the Windows 11 Start menu . Pinning the phone apps you use most keeps them within reach and cuts down on clutter.
Before you start, make sure your phone is already linked in Phone Link. The Apps feature is only available for Android phones. If you use an iPhone, you won’t see an Apps section. If the Apps section is missing or empty on Android, check that the phone is connected and that Phone Link is up to date on both the PC and the phone.
Add mobile apps to the Start menu in 🪟 Windows 11
Once your phone is linked, you can add any of its apps to the Start menu . Here’s how.
- Open the Phone Link app on your PC.
- Click Apps. You should see a list of the apps installed on your phone.
- Right-click the app you want on the Start menu and select Add to Start.
If Add to Start doesn't appear, make sure you right-clicked the app icon itself and not an empty area of the list.
The app now appears on your Start menu. Open Start and look in the pinned section. If you want it on the Taskbar too, do this:
- Open the Start menu and find the phone app.
- Right-click it and select Pin to Taskbar.
The app's icon should now show on the Taskbar. To undo this, right-click the icon on the Taskbar and choose to unpin it.
Remove mobile apps from the Start menu
Removing it here only takes away the shortcut. The app stays on your phone.
- Open the Start menu and find the phone app.
- Right-click it and select Remove from Start from the context menu.
The app disappears from the Start menu. If you change your mind, go back to the Apps section in Phone Link and use Add to Start again.
Conclusion:
- Pinning phone apps to the Start menu gives you quick access to your favorites and keeps your desktop organized.
- Once your phone is linked through Phone Link, you can add or remove apps from the Start menu whenever you like.
- The steps are short: right-click the app, then choose Add to Start or Remove from Start. That makes it easy to keep Start limited to the phone apps you actually use.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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