Fixing High CPU Usage Caused by yourphone.exe on Windows 10 and 11
If you’re seeing yourphone.exe just meltdown your CPU in Task Manager, you’re not alone. That process belongs to the Phone Link app (formerly Your Phone), which is supposed to connect your Windows PC with your Android or iPhone. Honestly, it sounds super handy—until it starts acting up and eats all your resources even if you’re not actively using it. Trust me, I’ve been there. Here’s how I finally managed to tame it, because no one wants their PC sounding like a jet engine just because some app decided to go haywire.
Getting rid of yourphone.exe using Task Manager
This is the quick and dirty approach. If your CPU is crying because of that process, open up Task Manager—hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc or Win + X and then pick Task Manager. Once it’s open, go to the Processes tab, find yourphone.exe (or it might just say “Phone Link”), click on it, then hit End Task. That’ll kill the process for now. If your CPU usage immediately drops, score! But be aware, the app might restart itself or come back later, especially after a reboot. Sometimes, a quick restart can help if it keeps respawning the high-CPU process.
Prevent your phone app from running in the background
If you want to put an end to this nonsense altogether, you’ll need to disable the app’s background activity. That way, it won’t sneak in and resource-hog without your permission. To do this: open Settings with Win + I, go to Apps > Installed apps, find Phone Link, click the three dots next to it, and choose Advanced options. Look for Background app permissions: it might be a dropdown or toggle. Set it to Never or turn off the option that allows it to run in the background. Sometimes this setting is tucked away under Privacy > Background apps, so poke around there too. This stops Windows from launching Phone Link in the background and gobbling CPU cycles behind your back.
Update the Phone Link app
Often, high CPU usage is caused by bugs in outdated versions. Developers constantly push updates to fix issues and improve stability; running an old version can cause weird behavior like resource spikes. Head over to the Microsoft Store: open it up, click on your profile icon (top right), then select Apps & Features. Find Your Phone or Phone Link, and hit Update if it’s available. Or just click Get updates in the store. A lot of times, just updating fixes the runaway CPU problem. Also, check for pending Windows updates—sometimes the system itself needs an update to play nicely with apps.
Repair or reset the app if it’s still acting out
If Phone Link is frozen, crashing, or still wasting CPU, try repairing or resetting it. This is often enough to fix internal glitches, especially if cache files or configs got jacked up. Go back to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Phone Link, click the three dots, then choose Advanced options. From here, try clicking Repair first—it attempts to fix it without losing your preferences. If that doesn’t work, go ahead and tap Reset. Be warned, resetting wipes local data and settings for that app, so you might have to set things up again afterward. But honestly, it’s often the best shot at stopping that process from just scrolling your CPU into the red.
Reinstall via PowerShell if nothing else works
When everything fails, and yourphone.exe still acts up, reinstalling it from scratch can help. Especially if it’s misbehaving after updates or system tweaks. Open PowerShell as admin (search PowerShell in the Start menu, right-click, pick Run as administrator). Then, check current packages with:
Get-AppxPackage *YourPhone*If you see something like Microsoft.MicrosoftYourPhone, remove it with:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.MicrosoftYourPhone | Remove-AppxPackagePackage names can vary based on your Windows version. After removing, head over to the Microsoft Store, search for Your Phone or Phone Link, and install it fresh. This ensures all corrupted files are wiped out and you’ll start clean. Just be prepared to log in again or redo some settings, but honestly, this last resort can save your CPU and sanity if the process has gone totally off the rails.
Why does yourphone.exe chew up CPU?
Figuring out why yourphone.exe suddenly spikes your CPU is part of the puzzle. Usually, it’s bugs, stuck attempts to sync, or internal conflicts—kind of like a phone call that won’t drop and just loops endlessly in the background. Sometimes, corrupted update files or a failed sync causes the process to spin out of control, which is both annoying and heating up your machine. When Windows updates or your phone OS gets upgraded, the app can get out of sync and try to reconnect repeatedly, causing CPU to go through the roof. You’ll probably notice your CPU fan scream louder or core temps rising unexpectedly.
The key: keep everything—Windows, your phone OS, device drivers—up to date. If you see that CPU spike, start with quick fixes like killing the process, disabling background activity, updating, repairing, or reinstalling. It’s usually a cascade — once the process gets stuck, it keeps trying to fix itself, and your system gets punished for it.
Pro tip – some BIOS background settings
Here’s a weird one—I once poked around BIOS/UEFI and disabled Intel SpeedStep and C-States on an older PC—just to see if it helped. Sometimes, hidden CPU management features can cause background processes to behave badly, especially when apps are syncing or updating in the background. Also, check your Power Plan—set it to High Performance temporarily, just to see if it stabilizes CPU usage. Just don’t forget to switch back later if you’re trying to save energy or extend battery life.
And if you’re really desperate, open Event Viewer and dig through system logs. Sometimes, conflicts or driver issues show up there and give clues about what’s causing the CPU spikes. It took me a few nights of trial and error, but understanding that the app’s spiraling loop is often caused by sync failures or missing updates helps sort it out faster next time.
Hope this helped — it took way too long for me to figure out. Anyway, hope this saves someone else from a weekend of frustration. Good luck, and keep an eye on your processes!