Intel’s excellent Unison PC-to-phone app shuts down for good
Image: Intel
Intel’s ambitious plan to tie together your laptop and phone into a single, unified platform — Intel Unison — is dead, unless you own a particular brand of PC.
Intel’s Unison page notes that the program “will soon be discontinued,” and a related Intel Knowledge Base article also claims that the app has reached its end of life. Dell puts it even more plainly: “The Intel Unison application is being discontinued and will no longer function correctly or be available for download after June 30, 2025.”
Intel had said earlier this year that it planned to discontinue the Unison app, probably because the company is working to cut costs in the midst of a downturn that has produced company layoffs and a reported recalibration in its manufacturing processes that will see its next-gen 18A process assigned to internal use only.
For a time, device makers were obsessed with making mobile devices interact with laptops. Dell’s Mobile Connect — which still appears to be alive, for now — was one option. Intel Unison was another, and one that wasn’t confined to any specific device maker. Intel talked boldly about Unison becoming not just an app, but a platform for cross-device connectivity.
Microsoft, however, had other plans, with the Your Phone app for Windows, which was later renamed Phone Link. Unison offered closer connectivity between Windows and Apple iPhones than Phone Link originally did, but Phone Link covers all Windows PCs, and not just Intel-powered ones. Phone Link not only can oversee iPhone messages and calls, but it’s also being integrated into the Windows Start menu itself.
However, there is one PC vendor which will continue using Unison: Lenovo. “Lenovo Aura PCs will retain service,” Intel said, apparently throughout the remainder of the year.
These Aura Edition PCs will still use Unison: the Lenovo Slim 7 14ILL10, ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10, ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13, ThinkPad X9-14 Gen 1, ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1, Yoga 9 2-in-1 14ILL10, Yoga Pro 7 14IAH10, Yoga Pro 9 16IAH10, Yoga Slim 7 14ILL10, and the Yoga Slim 7 15ILL9.
Intel once made Unison a key feature of its Evo program for premium laptops. While Intel’s Evo appears to still be alive and well, one of its selling points is officially going away.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.
