Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
Microsoft’s Phone Link app is warning that Android smartphones using the latest version of Android 15 won’t display certain “sensitive” notifications, according to a post from Mishaal Rahman spotted by Windows Central.
The warning is the result of an Android 15 privacy feature that automatically categorizes notifications like those containing 2FA codes as “sensitive” and prevents third-party apps from seeing them. That extra bit of privacy could come in handy if you’ve unwittingly given a malicious app permission to access your notifications. But it could be inconvenient if you frequently rely on seeing 2FA codes appear on your computer via Phone Link.
Screenshot: Windows Phone Link warning
Mishaal Rahman posted a screenshot of the warning.
According to Rahman, Windows should still show sensitive notifications for Android devices where Phone Link came preinstalled and has requested a “Companion Device Role.” That includes Samsung phones running One UI 6.1.1, but not other Android phones like Google Pixel or Nothing Phones, writes Windows Central.
Rahman wrote in October that users could get around the notification-hiding feature by turning off “Enhanced Notifications” in Android 15’s notifications settings. However, doing so also turns off things like reply suggestions and could make it easier again for malicious apps to gather details from all of your notifications.
