Your Phone for OSINT in Windows 11

Thanks to a post shared by OSINT Jobs from ZDNET , written by Lance Whitney , it came to my attention that the phone link between Windows 11 and Android finally has matured to a point where it is much more useful for OSINT than in the past.

Currently, OSINT-investigators tend to use BlueStacks or Android Studio to emulate Android for their investigations. However, these were all compromises and not every app works very well on emulation. An alternative is to use tools like scrcpy (Linux) or Vysor (Win/Mac) for screen mirroring, which shows the screen of your phone in a window. Personally, I like this way better, since I can also control my phone with my mouse and record my screen whilst doing investigations on mobile apps. If you want to use all the features from Vysor, you need to pay for them though.

But now it is so much easier without using too much third-party interference. All you need is:

• A fairly up-to-date Android phone (supported devices can be found here)
• Windows 11 (22H2 build needs to be installed or better).
• A Microsoft-account (aka Hotmail/Outlook mail address).
• Access to an Android app (apk) store.

For now only Android is supported by the Your Phone app, but iOS support will be added in the near future.

Step 1: Download and install the Your Phone app

If it isn't installed on your PC already, the first step is to download and install the Your Phone app on your Windows 11 PC. Search for Your Phone in the Microsoft Store and click the "Install" button to download and install the app.

Step 2: Connect your phone to your PC

After you've installed the app, you need to pair your phone to your Windows 11 PC via Bluetooth. On your PC, go to "Settings" > "Devices" > "Bluetooth and other devices" and click "Add Bluetooth or other device". The pairing can be done through Bluetooth and WiFi.

To complete the pairing, you need to scan a QR code with your phone. Open the Your Phone app on your PC and follow the instructions to scan the QR code on your screen with your phone's camera. If you don't have the app on your smartphone it will prompt you to download the app, via this link. The apk file can also be found on several third-party app stores (be careful when downloading).

Step 3: Sync & Mirror

Give the PC permission to synchronize with your phone and the different things it can synchronize with. Depending on your level of operational security in your investigations this can be: contacts, calls/messages, pictures and files. Think carefully about this, before clicking.

You can mirror your phone screen on your PC by clicking "Screen mirroring" in the Your Phone app. This allows you to control your phone from your PC which is the main purpose of doing all these steps. Your phone will ask permission to mirror the screen to the computer. Carefully look at all the options, such as:

• notifications through badges.
• calling and texting using the PC.
• turn on mirroring on start-up PC.

Choose the ones that fit you, again based on your OPSEC level. From there on, you are good to go!

Step 4: Easy screen-recording

In the newest version of the snipping tool in Windows 11 (in the 22H2 update, released Q4 2022) you can record your screen, instead of only taking pictures. So if you combine your snipping tool (Win-Shift-S for those Keyboard Cowboys) with the Your PC app from Microsoft, you are good to go.

Now you are all set up and ready to do investigation with your Android OSINT phone, but with your mouse, keyboard and an easy-to-use screen-recording tool.

I hope this article has given you some insight in the usefulness and I recognize that this set-up is not for everyone. At the very least I hope this has given you a nice alternative to other solutions to conduct investigations on mobile platforms.

The article on ZDNet can be found here.