Google Cloud vs Link to Windows
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Google Cloud
Manage your Google Cloud services on your iPhone or iPad. Monitor billing, status, and critical issues. Create custom dashboards, access Cloud Shell, and SSH into VMs for direct control.
- Cloud service management
- Billing and status monitoring
- Customizable dashboards
- Compute Engine/App Engine monitoring
- SSH access to VMs
- Cloud Shell access
- Incident and error response
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The app helps you manage your services running on Google Cloud directly from your Apple iPhone or iPad: • Stay connected to the cloud and check billing, status, and critical issues. • Create your own custom dashboard to produce an overview of your Google Cloud services. • Monitor the state of your Compute Engine and App Engine resources with the ability to SSH into your VMs. • Access to Cloud Shell to perform any Google Cloud (gcloud) operation. • View and respond to incidents, errors, and logging. We plan to ship new features regularly and continually improve your user experience. Please give us your feedback in the app by tapping the menu button in the upper-left corner, selecting Help & Feedback, and then Send feedback.
Link to Windows
Seamlessly integrate your iPhone with your Windows PC. Access calls, messages, notifications, and contacts directly from your computer. Easily share files between devices for enhanced productivity.
- Make and receive calls
- Manage phone notifications
- Read and reply to text messages
- View phone contacts
- Share files between phone and PC
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You love your phone. So does your PC. Get instant access to everything you love on your phone, right from your PC. To get started, connect your iPhone with the Phone Link Feature on your Windows PC. Enjoy these Phone Link features on your PC: • Make and receive calls • Manage your phone's notifications • Read and reply to text messages • View your phone contacts • Share files between your phone and PC Phone Link for iOS requires iPhone running iOS 16 or higher, and a PC with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support running Windows 10 (with the May 2019 Update or later) or Windows 11. Not available for iPad (iPadOS) or MacOS. By installing this app, you agree to the Microsoft Terms of Use https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338 and Privacy Statement https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=248686
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Link to Windows at 4.0 against Google Cloud's 3.4. Link to Windows also leads on review sentiment (56% vs 29%) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Google Cloud's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Link to Windows holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Link to Windows has 16K ratings behind it against 100, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 29% of Google Cloud's written reviews are positive against 56% of Link to Windows's.
Google Cloud ships an update weekly, Link to Windows fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Google Cloud | Link to Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (100 ratings) | 4.0 (16K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 29.4% of reviews | 56.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 100 | 16K — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #18 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 118 MB | 103 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | |
Customer experience
Google Cloud
Link to Windows
User reviews
Google Cloud
From 100 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Quick access to cloud resources on mobile
- 👍 Good UI/UX design with Material Design
- 🔐 Useful SSH functionality for VM management
- 📊 Helpful for quick monitoring and status checks
- ⚡ Cloud Shell access for command-line operations
Room to improve
- 🐛 Cloud Shell frequently disconnects
- ❌ Missing critical features (Cloud Run, Cloud Tasks, Cloud Build)
- 🔒 Persistent permission errors and access issues
- 💸 Confusing billing display and hidden charges
- 📉 Limited dashboard and monitoring capabilities
Link to Windows
From 16K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient text messaging from PC
- 📱 Ability to see phone notifications on PC
- 🔋 Battery level display on PC
- 👍 Helpful for productivity
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inconsistent Bluetooth connectivity
- 🔀 Unreliable message syncing between devices
- 🚫 Lack of group messaging support
- 📷 Inability to send/receive media
- 🔇 Poor call quality
Bugs and requests
Google Cloud
Reported bugs
24 issues- Cloud Shell stuck on 'preparing to connect' screen
- Cloud Shell disconnects when switching apps
- SSH authentication failures
- App crashes when viewing error console details
- Logs page continuously refreshing
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- Cannot view saved dashboards from web
- Saved queries not displaying correctly
- Permission errors blocking access to projects
- Billing section shows incorrect date ranges
- Incident notifications not working
- Device registration process failing
- Cloud Shell input issues with special keys (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E)
- Cannot select or copy text in Cloud Shell
- SSH return key not working properly in some contexts
- App crashes after updates
- 2-factor authentication sign-in broken
- Incidents marked resolved still show as new
- Logs missing with applied filters
- App crashes when viewing log entry details in dark mode
- External keyboard support broken on iPad
- Notification permissions not requested on iOS
- Cannot change logged-in account
- Project switching broken
- Scrolling issues in logs and traces
Requested features
20 requests- Cloud Run service support
- Cloud Tasks management
- Cloud Build integration
- Custom dashboard access from mobile
- Dark mode for iPad
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Cloud Shell full-screen mode
- Better keyboard support for external keyboards
- Account switching capability
- Notification management improvements
- GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) support
- Cloud Functions monitoring
- Datalab integration
- API quota viewing
- Cloud Storage bucket upload/replace functionality
- Instance group management
- HTTP Load Balancing controls
- Password protection for app
- Font size adjustment in console
- Improved SSH/terminal UX
- BigQuery support
Link to Windows
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes and freezes
- Bluetooth interference with other devices
- Inability to reconnect after device is out of range
Requested features
4 requests- Seamless call handling between phone and PC
- Full message history sync
- Support for media sharing
- Group messaging functionality
In-app purchases
Google Cloud
No in-app purchases
Link to Windows
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Google Cloud free?
Is Link to Windows free?
Which has better reviews, Google Cloud or Link to Windows?
Do Google Cloud or Link to Windows have ads?
Which is updated more often, Google Cloud or Link to Windows?
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