How to get Android messages on your PC

If you spend most of your time in front of your computer, then you may have wished that you could integrate some of the things you could do on your smartphone with your computer. You couldn’t integrate everything but there’s one you can easily do–checking your text messages on your PC. To do this, you will need Google’s Messages for web which sends SMS messages using a connection from your computer to your phone, so carrier fees will apply, just like on the mobile app.

Follow the steps below to quickly setup your computer to receive your text messages.

1. Download and install Messages from the Play Store. Just search for ‘messages’ and if you see an app developed by Google LLC, that’s the one you’re looking for.
2. On your PC, use a browser and navigate to messages.android.com. You will be presented with a QR code once you’re on that page.
3. Open Messages from your phone and then tap More icon (three dots) located on the upper-right corner.
4. Choose Messages for web and then tap QR code scanner.
5. Now, scan the QR code with your phone and when it’s ready, your phone will vibrate.

After the set up when you have unread messages, the Messages icon in your browser tab will show a red notification and the number of unread messages. But please note, your phone should always be powered on because Messages for web can’t work independently. Text messages are still sent through your phone and forwarded to your PC, although this process is performed in a second.

If you also want to send media via text, it’s a simple drag and drop method like you always do on your computer when copying files.