Windows 10 build 18356 hits the Fast ring with phone mirroring in tow

It's a new week, which means another new Windows Insider build is on its way to the Fast ring. Today, Fast ring Insiders can get their hands on Windows 10 build 18356, which brings along a variety of general bug fixes and improvements.

The real highlight here, however, is hte arrival of what Microsoft has dubbed "phone screen" in the Your Phone app for Insiders. This is the Android screen mirroring feature that Microsoft teased at its October Surface event in 2018, and we saw hints of earlier today. The feature only works with Surface Go PCs and a select group of Samsung phones from the Galaxy S8 and S9 lines at the moment, but it will allow you to interact with your phone right from the Your Phone app on your PC.

Here's the full rundown of build 18356.

What's new

Take your phone's screen to the big screen: We are excited to provide an early preview into the newest feature for the Your Phone app – phone screen. You can now mirror your Android phone's screen directly on your PC without having to dig for your phone.The new phone screen feature gives you easy access to your phone apps on your PC. Whether scheduling a ride to the airport or checking your social updates, do it with ease from the comfort of your PC without having to take your phone out of your bag or go back and forth between devices. Go ahead, give your thumbs a break, and get things done faster with your keyboard and mouse.This feature will gradually roll out to Insiders on 19H1 builds. It may take a few days for this feature to show up inside the Your Phone app (version 1.0.20701.0 and above).

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

  • We fixed a Microsoft Edge crash encountered when interacting with combo boxes in PDF forms. We fixed an issue that could result in night light being on after an upgrade, even though all the settings showed that night light should be off.
  • We fixed an issue where using the slider to adjust the night light strength could result in night light getting stuck on.
  • We fixed an issue where night light was skipping the fade transition when it was turned off (manually or scheduled).
  • We fixed an issue resulting in increased battery drain while the screen was on in recent builds.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the "…" menu contents being clipped for certain apps like Voice Recorder and Alarms and Clock when the app was full screen.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing bugcheck green screens citing a KERNEL_SECURITY_VIOLATION error.

Known issues

  • Launching games that use anti-cheat software may trigger a bugcheck (GSOD).
  • Creative X-Fi sound cards are not functioning properly. We are partnering with Creative to resolve this issue.
  • Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
  • We're investigating an issue preventing VMware from being able to install or update Windows Insider Preview builds. Hyper-V is a viable alternative if available to you.
  • If you install any of the recent builds from the Fast ring and switch to the Slow ring, optional content such as enabling developer mode will fail. You will have to remain in the Fast ring to add/install/enable optional content. This is because optional content will only install on builds approved for specific rings.

As always, you can get the full details of the latest Fast ring build at the Windows Blog, including all of the particulars for getting set up with the phone screen feature in the Your Phone app. Otherwise, Fast ring Insiders can grab build 18356 via Windows Update now.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl