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Things You Can Do with KDE Connect on Linux

134 points by jlpcsl 3y ago

duffyjp 3y ago
Point #3 (Using Your Phone as a Mouse and Keyboard) mentions utilizing the gyroscope. I've had that idea in the back of my head for years and years and am super excited somebody actually built it. Looking forward to trying this out. If it works well enough to actually use I'm gonna be turning heads at the next in person meeting. :)
hn_throawlles 3y ago
9. setting up wireguard and kde-connecting over the internet! -- > 6. Locating Your Misplaced Phone I've had an issue many times, in which my phone (possibly to save battery?) is not KDE connected when I need it; usually after not touching it for several hours... So I recommend disabling energy saving feature for the KDE connect app. Nonetheless, it's strange, I blame Android for optimizing this functionality into uselessness (for battery's sake probably, but I really dislike this new trend of "uncofigurable" devices).
- tkanarsky 3y ago
  Tailscale works great for this use case, in me experience. Very plug-n-play.
- lillecarl 3y ago
  I'd love KDE to implement a server dependent version with both a subscription and a self-hosted version. If I understand push notifications properly they could be used to keep it sleeping until it's "notification time", connect and do it's thing. Since there's always a push connection active with your phone it wouldn't increase battery consumption
  - MayeulC 3y ago
    I agree, I'd love KDE Connect to support UnifiedPush.
2Gkashmiri 3y ago
I've used the clipboard sync for the past so many years and it works "flawlessly" and transparently. It just works. Ctrl+c on your PC, paste on your mobile. Same on the other side.
- unstuck3958 3y ago
  I can confirm, though it's more like 5:1 hit-miss ratio for me (specifically for the copy paste feature) but that could be because of agressive battery optimization I do. I also use it daily for effortless file transfer, and so much more: it truly has enhaced my desktop experience to another level. For example, I can play a YouTube video on my PC and have it pause when I recieve a phone call - all without any kind of physical intervention. Makes me wonder how many more people who are waiting for AirDrop alternatives haven't tried KDE Connect. Or about the state of FOSS in general. Also, feels good to see a fellow Kashmiri on HN :)
  - 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
    I have battery optimization disabled for KDE apps, itinerary, connect, neochat. That helps I guess and now that you mention it, it's the first thing on a new phone so I don't see problems. The auto-play pause also works transparently. I'd say the idea of marketing is important. If someone is using Linux, they are already in a niche and you kinda get to know everything. OTOH, a random windows user who is using it for the first time or someone who uses it in office or for kids, its very hard for them to be exposed to Foss apps. I mean i've installed libreoffice on hundreds of computers and people still want "ms office". Same for newbies who want first time internet, I show them ddg or something and they expect "show me that google".
    - cyberbanjo 3y ago
      Usually when I show DuckDuckGo to someone I start with the bangs, so if they want me to search Google, I show them that use !g in my query, then I do a few searches on other sites like YouTube !yt and Bing !b and Google Image Search !gis so they see what, to me, is the biggest selling point. https://duckduckgo.com/bangs?q= https://duckduckgo.com/bangs?q=
kps 3y ago
> 6. Locating Your Misplaced Phone […] This feature is a great alternative if you don’t have an Apple Watch that you can use to ping your iPhone. That doesn't actually work for iPhones, since (per Apple restrictions) KDE Connect has to be running in the foreground to do anything useful. It's still my go-to file transfer app, although it would be nice if it were available from the iOS share button.
isthisfoss 3y ago
Does GNOME have a similar feature? I am not a big fan of how busy KDE is.
- kadoban 3y ago
  You should be able to use KDE Connect without the rest of KDE. I don't know how heavy the deps are, but it should really just be disk space wasted mostly.
- unstuck3958 3y ago
  KDE Connect is not restricted to KDE Plasma. It's an app, so it is available for Windows, Linux, and even iOS.
- smoldesu 3y ago
  GSConnect was a rewrite for the GNOME shell, but I think it's been 'depreciated' in favor of Valent. You can try both and see which you prefer: GSConnect: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/ https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/ Valent: https://valent.andyholmes.ca/ https://valent.andyholmes.ca/
  - freedomben 3y ago
    Have you used Valent? Is it fairly feature comparable to KDE Connect? I use real KDE Connect on Gnome but it's pretty clumsy
    - commoner 3y ago
      I haven't used Valent (since there's no stable release yet), but I can vouch for GSConnect. It's a feature-complete KDE Connect client that seamlessly integrates into GNOME Shell as an extension.
  - jacooper 3y ago
    Its not deprecated, both are still supported
kej 3y ago
Worth mentioning that KDE Connect can run on Windows as well.
- JohnBerea 3y ago
  I tried it out on Windows 10 but the mouse input is so laggy it's unusable. Looks like this bug has [already been reported](https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=440744 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=440744).
  - kej 3y ago
    Yeah, I probably should have included a disclaimer that not everything works as well as it does on Linux. I mostly use the notification mirroring and file transfers, and those have both worked fine for me.
- jasonm23 3y ago
  and macos, it works very well.
unstuck3958 3y ago
KDE Connect is a great piece of software. Everyone I recommended it to uses it almost daily. It makes me wonder about the state of FOSS software: there are plenty of genuinely good FOSS apps that can, in theory, be a part of a FOSS "ecosystem." But not many people actually know about them or use them. While I am still curious to know why this is, it seems like "advertisement" is still the greater predictor of software usage than anything else (including functionality and ease-of-use). Which is sad (especially because FOSS apps get better the more people use them).
- jjbinx007 3y ago
  Unfortunately my recent experience with the Windows version was negative. I installed KDE Connect so I could link it with my Steam Deck but the text on the Windows version was completely screwed up to the extent that the UI was completely unusable. After Googling it seems a work around was to disable hardware acceleration but I was reluctant to do that. I wanted to revert back to an earlier version (which apparently didn't suffer from thsi bug) but there's no repository for old versions.
  - commoner 3y ago
    The Chocolatey package manager for Windows can install old versions of software from its package repo. KDE Connect is listed as a trusted package, with the oldest available version being 1.4.422 (added in December 2020): https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/kdeconnect-kde#versionhistory https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/kdeconnect-kde#ver... Would you mind filing a bug report in KDE's bug tracker for the issue you experienced, if it hasn't already been reported? https://bugs.kde.org https://bugs.kde.org
    - jjbinx007 3y ago
      Thank you, that's interesting to know. And yes, I will.
  - g8oz 3y ago
    I had the same experience until I rolled back the Windows display zoom from 150% back to 100%. It does make using the app a chore and I end up using it less than I would otherwise.
butz 3y ago
Related question: what is the situation of getting photos from iPhone to a Linux PC? Is it possible?
- Scarbutt 3y ago
  Or any other file, there are methods but not as convenient as airdrop.
  - kevviiinn 3y ago
    I don't understand why someone would choose a computing device that traps them as much as apple devices do. Every time I've tried to get a file off of one, which is something so incredibly basic it should be easy to do, it's next to impossible without using their shitty iTunes software. Why can't a file system just be a file system? Why does it need to be this nonsense? The last time I tried this I was mounting an iPod as a filesystem and everything had nonhuman read bale names and there were a bunch of weird formats. Why on earth is apple so hostile to users?
    - donkeybeer 3y ago
      Does the iphone let you run an http or ftp server on the device? If so its actually alright, I prefer copying files over lan over fiddling with cables anyways generally. But it is funny how copying files with a cable is not possible with it.
    - Scarbutt 3y ago
      What do you suggest? I'm happy with my recent switch to linux desktop but for phones there aren't many options, is android any better?
      - kwhitefoot 3y ago
        > is android any better In this specific respect, most definitely yes.
davikr 3y ago
I use KDE Connect to share books and papers from my computer to my tablet, so I can annotate them with a digital pen. It's pretty nice. Occasionally I'll do the same from my phone, and it works as long as you share your mobile connection.
p2hari 3y ago
On my mac, the connection keeps disconnecting. Only way is to restart on mobile(android) and then on mac. Does anyone experience this? Any solutions.
pmontra 3y ago
9. Mute speakers when receiving or making a call on the phone. 10. Share files directly between Android devices without going through my laptop.
usr1106 3y ago
Interesting. It even has a native SailfishOS integration. However, last commit a year ago. Oh, well, I guess that's not a huge surprise.
- themoonisachees 3y ago
  I use it daily. To be quite honest I don't see what needs to be done more beyond security and compatibility fixes. I never had it crash and I honestly can't think of a feature I would like it to have that it doesn't. Sometimes software is complete.

134 points by jlpcsl 3y ago

Point #3 (Using Your Phone as a Mouse and Keyboard) mentions utilizing the gyroscope. I've had that idea in the back of my head for years and years and am super excited somebody actually built it. Looking forward to trying this out. If it works well enough to actually use I'm gonna be turning heads at the next in person meeting. :)

hn_throawlles 3y ago

9. setting up wireguard and kde-connecting over the internet! -- > 6. Locating Your Misplaced Phone I've had an issue many times, in which my phone (possibly to save battery?) is not KDE connected when I need it; usually after not touching it for several hours... So I recommend disabling energy saving feature for the KDE connect app. Nonetheless, it's strange, I blame Android for optimizing this functionality into uselessness (for battery's sake probably, but I really dislike this new trend of "uncofigurable" devices).

tkanarsky 3y ago
Tailscale works great for this use case, in me experience. Very plug-n-play.
lillecarl 3y ago
I'd love KDE to implement a server dependent version with both a subscription and a self-hosted version. If I understand push notifications properly they could be used to keep it sleeping until it's "notification time", connect and do it's thing. Since there's always a push connection active with your phone it wouldn't increase battery consumption
- MayeulC 3y ago
  I agree, I'd love KDE Connect to support UnifiedPush.

2Gkashmiri 3y ago

I've used the clipboard sync for the past so many years and it works "flawlessly" and transparently. It just works. Ctrl+c on your PC, paste on your mobile. Same on the other side.

unstuck3958 3y ago
I can confirm, though it's more like 5:1 hit-miss ratio for me (specifically for the copy paste feature) but that could be because of agressive battery optimization I do. I also use it daily for effortless file transfer, and so much more: it truly has enhaced my desktop experience to another level. For example, I can play a YouTube video on my PC and have it pause when I recieve a phone call - all without any kind of physical intervention. Makes me wonder how many more people who are waiting for AirDrop alternatives haven't tried KDE Connect. Or about the state of FOSS in general. Also, feels good to see a fellow Kashmiri on HN :)
- 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
  I have battery optimization disabled for KDE apps, itinerary, connect, neochat. That helps I guess and now that you mention it, it's the first thing on a new phone so I don't see problems. The auto-play pause also works transparently. I'd say the idea of marketing is important. If someone is using Linux, they are already in a niche and you kinda get to know everything. OTOH, a random windows user who is using it for the first time or someone who uses it in office or for kids, its very hard for them to be exposed to Foss apps. I mean i've installed libreoffice on hundreds of computers and people still want "ms office". Same for newbies who want first time internet, I show them ddg or something and they expect "show me that google".
  - cyberbanjo 3y ago
    Usually when I show DuckDuckGo to someone I start with the bangs, so if they want me to search Google, I show them that use !g in my query, then I do a few searches on other sites like YouTube !yt and Bing !b and Google Image Search !gis so they see what, to me, is the biggest selling point. https://duckduckgo.com/bangs?q= https://duckduckgo.com/bangs?q=

kps 3y ago

> 6. Locating Your Misplaced Phone […] This feature is a great alternative if you don’t have an Apple Watch that you can use to ping your iPhone. That doesn't actually work for iPhones, since (per Apple restrictions) KDE Connect has to be running in the foreground to do anything useful. It's still my go-to file transfer app, although it would be nice if it were available from the iOS share button.

isthisfoss 3y ago

Does GNOME have a similar feature? I am not a big fan of how busy KDE is.

kadoban 3y ago
You should be able to use KDE Connect without the rest of KDE. I don't know how heavy the deps are, but it should really just be disk space wasted mostly.
unstuck3958 3y ago
KDE Connect is not restricted to KDE Plasma. It's an app, so it is available for Windows, Linux, and even iOS.
smoldesu 3y ago
GSConnect was a rewrite for the GNOME shell, but I think it's been 'depreciated' in favor of Valent. You can try both and see which you prefer: GSConnect: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/ https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/ Valent: https://valent.andyholmes.ca/ https://valent.andyholmes.ca/
- freedomben 3y ago
  Have you used Valent? Is it fairly feature comparable to KDE Connect? I use real KDE Connect on Gnome but it's pretty clumsy
  - commoner 3y ago
    I haven't used Valent (since there's no stable release yet), but I can vouch for GSConnect. It's a feature-complete KDE Connect client that seamlessly integrates into GNOME Shell as an extension.
- jacooper 3y ago
  Its not deprecated, both are still supported

kej 3y ago

Worth mentioning that KDE Connect can run on Windows as well.

JohnBerea 3y ago
I tried it out on Windows 10 but the mouse input is so laggy it's unusable. Looks like this bug has [already been reported](https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=440744 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=440744).
- kej 3y ago
  Yeah, I probably should have included a disclaimer that not everything works as well as it does on Linux. I mostly use the notification mirroring and file transfers, and those have both worked fine for me.
jasonm23 3y ago
and macos, it works very well.

unstuck3958 3y ago

KDE Connect is a great piece of software. Everyone I recommended it to uses it almost daily. It makes me wonder about the state of FOSS software: there are plenty of genuinely good FOSS apps that can, in theory, be a part of a FOSS "ecosystem." But not many people actually know about them or use them. While I am still curious to know why this is, it seems like "advertisement" is still the greater predictor of software usage than anything else (including functionality and ease-of-use). Which is sad (especially because FOSS apps get better the more people use them).

jjbinx007 3y ago
Unfortunately my recent experience with the Windows version was negative. I installed KDE Connect so I could link it with my Steam Deck but the text on the Windows version was completely screwed up to the extent that the UI was completely unusable. After Googling it seems a work around was to disable hardware acceleration but I was reluctant to do that. I wanted to revert back to an earlier version (which apparently didn't suffer from thsi bug) but there's no repository for old versions.
- commoner 3y ago
  The Chocolatey package manager for Windows can install old versions of software from its package repo. KDE Connect is listed as a trusted package, with the oldest available version being 1.4.422 (added in December 2020): https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/kdeconnect-kde#versionhistory https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/kdeconnect-kde#ver... Would you mind filing a bug report in KDE's bug tracker for the issue you experienced, if it hasn't already been reported? https://bugs.kde.org https://bugs.kde.org
  - jjbinx007 3y ago
    Thank you, that's interesting to know. And yes, I will.
- g8oz 3y ago
  I had the same experience until I rolled back the Windows display zoom from 150% back to 100%. It does make using the app a chore and I end up using it less than I would otherwise.

butz 3y ago

Related question: what is the situation of getting photos from iPhone to a Linux PC? Is it possible?

Scarbutt 3y ago
Or any other file, there are methods but not as convenient as airdrop.
- kevviiinn 3y ago
  I don't understand why someone would choose a computing device that traps them as much as apple devices do. Every time I've tried to get a file off of one, which is something so incredibly basic it should be easy to do, it's next to impossible without using their shitty iTunes software. Why can't a file system just be a file system? Why does it need to be this nonsense? The last time I tried this I was mounting an iPod as a filesystem and everything had nonhuman read bale names and there were a bunch of weird formats. Why on earth is apple so hostile to users?
  - donkeybeer 3y ago
    Does the iphone let you run an http or ftp server on the device? If so its actually alright, I prefer copying files over lan over fiddling with cables anyways generally. But it is funny how copying files with a cable is not possible with it.
  - Scarbutt 3y ago
    What do you suggest? I'm happy with my recent switch to linux desktop but for phones there aren't many options, is android any better?
    - kwhitefoot 3y ago
      > is android any better In this specific respect, most definitely yes.

davikr 3y ago

I use KDE Connect to share books and papers from my computer to my tablet, so I can annotate them with a digital pen. It's pretty nice. Occasionally I'll do the same from my phone, and it works as long as you share your mobile connection.

p2hari 3y ago

On my mac, the connection keeps disconnecting. Only way is to restart on mobile(android) and then on mac. Does anyone experience this? Any solutions.

pmontra 3y ago

9. Mute speakers when receiving or making a call on the phone. 10. Share files directly between Android devices without going through my laptop.

usr1106 3y ago

Interesting. It even has a native SailfishOS integration. However, last commit a year ago. Oh, well, I guess that's not a huge surprise.

themoonisachees 3y ago
I use it daily. To be quite honest I don't see what needs to be done more beyond security and compatibility fixes. I never had it crash and I honestly can't think of a feature I would like it to have that it doesn't. Sometimes software is complete.