My Windows Phone
| Windows Phone Live logo | |
 My Windows Phone online portal | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release | October 21, 2010 |
| Stable release | 7.5 "Mango"
/ September 27, 2011 |
| Platform | Windows Phone |
| Website | http://windowsphone.live.com |
My Windows Phone (previously Windows Phone Live) is a free online companion service for Windows Phone mobile devices from Microsoft. The service, released in conjunction with the launch of Windows Phone 7 on October 21, 2010, provides users with a free mobile phone back-up solution by wirelessly synchronizing contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and OneNote notebooks with a various tightly-integrated Windows Live services including Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Calendar, and Windows Live SkyDrive. Users can access and manage their information stored on their Windows Phone devices via a password protected online portal using their Windows Live ID. My Windows Phone also includes the Find My Phone service which facilitates tracking of a lost or stolen phone over the Internet or by messages.[1] Similar phone finder services under various names are available for other families of smartphones. A similar service for Windows Mobile devices was available with Microsoft My Phone, withdrawn in 2011.
The service was updated on September 27, 2011 in conjunction with the release of Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" update, adding support for Microsoft Scrapbook and account management features including viewing app purchase history and reinstall apps from the Windows Phone Store.
Features
My Windows Phone offers the following features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Edit Windows Phone Marketplace billing information as well as view app purchase history and reinstall apps. |
| Contacts | Automatic synchronization of all contacts on the phone book with Windows Live Contacts, including contacts added from other connected services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. |
| Calendar | Automatic synchronization of calendar appointments with Windows Live Hotmail Calendar. |
| Photos | Automatic synchronization and backup of all photos taken on the mobile phone onto a dedicated folder on Windows Live SkyDrive. Users can also choose to share the SkyDrive mobile photos folder with their contacts. |
| Office | Automatic synchronization and backup of all Office documents with Windows Live SkyDrive. Users can also choose to share and collaboratively work on the notebooks with their contacts. |
| Games | Allow users to view their Xbox Live gamertag, avatar and gamerscores (achievement points). |
In addition, the Find My Phone section offers the following features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Map It | Presents the phone's current location on a map using either the phone's current GPS location data, or via the triangulation of mobile network towers. |
| Ring It | Remotely rings the phone loudly for 60 seconds even if it is set to silent or vibrate mode. |
| Lock It | Allows users to remotely lock a device and set a personal PIN from the Find My Phone portal. Users can also enter a "please return" message to be displayed on the locked screen. |
| Erase It | Remotely erases the phone and resets it to factory default settings. The function will erase all personal data including all contacts, e-mails, applications, and application data. |