Phone Link is Microsoft's late and closed source alternative to KDE Connect. It requires you sign in to a Microsoft Account for it to work.
Phone Link is Microsoft's late and closed source alternative to KDE Connect. It requires you sign in to a Microsoft Account for it to work.
This means all the transactions between your phone and your PC are monitored and sucked up by Microsoft.
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KDE Connect also runs on more operating systems. It's worth mentioning to friends who run Windows.
You can even connect e.g. Android devices with each other! No PC/laptop needed!
This feature is epic. Being able to save a file to my phone from my tablet or vice versa is fantastic.
Easiest way for me to transfer my ROMs to my Steam Deck, even while using it in Windows
also works on GNOME! (gsconnect)
like most apps on Linux, kde connect was never exclusive to any desktop. you don't need gsconnect.
I was not aware that KDE Connect ran on Windows! This is great to hear for recommendations. Thanks for spreading awareness!
It works on all platforms, I work on mobile apps so I have quite a few Androids and iPhones, as well as a linux laptop and a Mac mini. It works seamlessly between all of those.
@loutr @Kalcifer
You don't even need to connect computer anywhere. You can connect, say, your iPad with your Android phone and share stuff from one to another.
Is there a port for M Macs? I'm missing it so much now that I don't have Linux on the laptop.
https://kdeconnect.kde.org/download.html
https://invent.kde.org/ruixuantu/kdeconnect-mac
https://asahilinux.org/
https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-kde?tab=readme-ov-file#on-mac-or-windows
Weirdly shows not officially supported on github.
Thanks for the other links!
They probably mean they don't provide support via the official channels due to the support being experimental, instead you'd report bugs directly to the kdeconnect-mac repo.
What's preventing you from installing Asahi Linux?
KDE Connect is one of the most useful app on my phone, and I can't believe I went as long as I did without knowing about it
Same, I now understand the Apple fanboys, is fucking awesome when your PC connects to your phone and things works.
How does KDE work in regards to sharing content between computer and phone?
@Lipriv30 @big_slap
That would be one of KDE Connects' main functions, yes. It makes sharing any kind of file (photos, videos, whatever) easy.
You can also share the content of your clipboard from your desktop to your phone and vice versa. So you would copy, say, a web address on your desktop, and you would be able to paste it into your web browser on your phone immediately.
Interesting that they bothered to make this considering KDE Connect already works on Windows
The only unique (I think?) thing about phone link is that it enables you to use your Android phone camera as a webcam, which can be handy if you don't have a quality webcam. I think its only in the beta version though.
Audio and video sharing would be really handy. I wonder if KDE connect might do this at some point
I'm not sure if this is a Pixel feature or if its available across all of Android, but there is an option when you connect over USB to connect your phone as a webcam - but that is of course tethered instead of being wireless.
With phone link I have tested the beta version and you can use your phone camera wirelessly after initial setup. At least I was able to do this using a Redmi Note 9s without any obvious issues, apart from the privacy concerns noted elsewhere.
I wonder if KDE connect could leverage the way Syncthing does device discovery and pairing
It works across networks, with no configuration
KDE Connect is an amazing app
when it works. but it's so incredibly buggy, especially the desktop apps, and double especially the sms desktop app. holy shite is it terrible, and trying to get support is like trying to report a problem to google
All I'm going to say to this is....
You people still use SMS?
I've explicitly told people not to send me text messages. The protocols are old and shit compared to other instant messengers. I'm on Google chat, telegram, signal, discord, slack, teams.... Find another app to talk to me with. I generally don't care which one, but I actively refuse to sign up for or into any Facebook/meta/Zuckerberg properties. If you use something I don't that isn't owned by the zuck, I'll probably sign up so we can keep touch, but for the love of God, not SMS.
Look, SMS was great when phones didn't have internet on them. It was a quick and easy way to send updates and chat while away from your cable/DSL/dialup (whatever you had at the time). Now that data is the primary use for a mobile phone plan, just use a more robust IM app.
I also have about six or seven phone numbers, which I give out to different groups of people for different reasons, plus a phone number on my mobile which nearly nobody knows. All my other lines (all VoIP lines) ring my cellphone number. Texting from my VoIP line is not fun, but it does work. Multimedia messages generally get lost and RCS is just encouraging the use of something that should have been killed off.
I'm partial to Telegram and signal since they mainly operate by phone numbers, but I can make "voice" and video calls over data rather than having to use my cellphone directly; which allows me to call from my computer, laptop, phone, tablet.... Literally any device that can run the program. So if my phone is lost/damaged/stolen/whatever (unavailable for any reason), I can still send messages to you and call if needed.
If everything is tied to your cellphone number, and that number becomes unavailable for any reason, well... Get fucked I guess. Your SIM stops working, your phone dies/breaks/gets stolen, your provider decides to fuck your account up or charge you a fortune for no good reason and cuts you off, your provider has a major malfunction and stops servicing clients in your area.... Literally anything goes wrong with the one system you use and all your SMS bullshit goes away. Stop. Using. SMS.
besides many banks requiring SMS 2FA still, I usually only talk with non-app-using people over e2ee RCS
The banks are borderline criminally negligent because they exclusively use SMS for 2FA.
Simply, it is insufficient.
I get that they want the SMS information on file, and that's understandable, but give people another option at least, Holy hell. It gives my inner IT secops brain an aneurysm.
@MystikIncarnate @refalo Shouldn't RCS be a better (ah-through already outdated to begin with) standard to use ? With major phone constructors making it available ?
It's improvement.
But you can also polish a turd, and that's also improvement. It's still a turd. Taking 1990's tech and overlaying rich text services onto it, is just polish for the same 90's tech that should have been left behind.
IMO, it's still worlds away from what you can get with a purely digital instant messaging system.
Also, it seems idiotic to me that nearly all of your communications can go up in smoke by accidentally dropping your phone into a wood chipper, and you'll be SOL until you replace it because everything is hairpinned through your cellphones SMS capability. Battery dead? Out of your providers service area? Ha ha, get fucked.
Just dumb.
Phone link is SHIT, it only works sometimes and never when ya need it to
so exactly like kde connect then
I'll just leave this here:
https://kdeconnect.kde.org/
@kde @ulfi About the only thing missing from KDE Connect so far is support for file and screen sharing between Android and Windows. But that's mostly a software issue.
KDE Connect and Phone Link only have partial feature overlap. I prefer KDE Connect but to claim that either is a proper alternative for the other is wrong, unless I missed that KDE Connect supports casting the phone's screen to PCs and launching phone apps from there.
There is scrcpy for that and you can launch arbitrary commands from KDE Connect too.
I'm fully aware of that but the scrcpy feature set is not integrated into KDE Conenct, therefore the features overlap to a degree but aren't the same. Phone Link allows to launch apps from Windows, KDE Connect doesn't offer the same. That's no diss or anything, just stating facts.
@kde
#kdeconnect is really awesome. The only negative point is that it won't allow you to send multiple files simultaneously. We have to send each file separately. If possible, please provide it soon.
@[email protected]
KDE Connect mounts your phone as a network folder in Dolphin. You could copy multiple files and paste them into a folder in your phone through Dolpin as a workaround.
closed source - true
alternative to KDE Connect - false
requires you sign in to a Microsoft Account for it to work - true
you've got to place two spaces at the end of the text before every return if you want a
new line, otherwise two returns give you a
new paragraph
This is not new. Has been there for a while
It's been there for years, I think at least since before 11 was released...
@[email protected] why isn't it called KDE Konnect instead of Connect?
@[email protected] @[email protected] Which, funny enough, is Precisely Why I run KDE Connect.
Also, I don't let my androids fraternize with Windows machines, I'd have to boil them all later because, ew.
I turned on phone link once. Had a hell of a time getting it to not connect to my phone.
@[email protected] @[email protected]
Kde connect is awesome!
@Norodix @[email protected] @[email protected] it really is awesome! I use it daily. The last time was during a presentation at school , using my phone as a kind of remote for presentations is awesome
No screen mirroring though 😕
Maybe scrcpy is the tool for you then.
Number one reason right here.
I have gotten Your Phone to work maybe a half a dozen times. KDE Connect just works, full stop.
I have had nothing but problems with kde connect for years
@[email protected] @[email protected]
KDE connect es ya un buque insignia de la conectividad para los amantes del #softwarelibre y si no es por KDE ni sabríamos que Gates ha sacado una nueva basura al mercado.
@[email protected] @[email protected]
On one hand, *lame!!* Die in a fire, copycats
on the other hand, *cool!* it's not my imagination that kdeconnect is the best phone app ever. thank you to all involved!! ❤️
Based.
And yes, KDE Connect ftw
Apart from screen mirroring and sms that everyone has mentioned the proprietary alternative undeniably has more features. I don't know whether it is phone link or link to windows but one of them has a feature where your phone can be used as a webcam over WiFi. As someone who set up ip webcam on my phone and used obs virtual camera through most of the pandemic's online classes it's quite useful and I'd like to see features like that just work and are not relying on mjpeg and proprietary software on the phone end. Their auto hotspot feature i haven't gotten to work and i think is useless but I'm thankful that i don't have to turn off kde connect when using samsung dex.
ftfy, i wanted to give it a shot one time and it literally didnt work, at all. all of Microsofts cross device features are a hot mess, like how you are supposed to be able to share the clipboard between logged in windows PCs, never could get that working either.
"Alternative"
@[email protected] @[email protected]
I only stumbled onto KDE connect in f-droid about a month ago.
It's the fastest way to transfer large files from device to device.
I just wish I could show my phone screen on my old tablet.
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy
@Rustmilian
That says works on Linux, Windows and Mac. I'm after android to android. Screen casting from phone to tablet essentially. Am I missing some fine print?
In that case :
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/100
https://gitlab.com/las2mile/scrcpy-android
https://yume-chan.github.io/ya-webadb
Alternatively, RustDesk.
@Rustmilian Rust desk requires a server connection so not suitable for this application, but I use it for other things.
Can't get script android to work. Not really sure what it's after.
Really hope KDE connect can add something in to make it the one and only app for sharing between devices
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
you might want to check out droidVNC-NG to share the screen from your (android) phone via vnc
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.christianbeier.droidvnc_ng/
there's also avnc, which is an android vnc client
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.gaurav.avnc/
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy
https://gitlab.com/las2mile/scrcpy-android
https://yume-chan.github.io/ya-webadb
Alternatively, RustDesk.
ahahah loved the picture
@[email protected] @[email protected] looks like they just want all our data... never enough!
Windows is turning into another spyware
Turning?
@woelkchen ok, it already IS a spyware
@[email protected] @[email protected]
Wasn't MS "Your phone" available for 5+ years? I mean, I know KDE connect is since 10+ years, but how is this news? Change of naming?
@b100dian @[email protected] @[email protected]
Here's the thing: firstly, There are people who don't know things you do. if you already knew about this, this post is not for you. It's for the people who were not aware of the dangers of using Microsoft's alternative.
Secondly: KDE is not a news agency. Their main mission is to inform, sometimes of stuff that is old, but persevering in time, and often their posts will not cover the headlines of the day. But that doesn't matter, because they are not a news agency.
I love hearing about a new tool like this.
@[email protected] @[email protected] I use KDE connect (always connected) and #LocalSend sometimes #plainapp depends on my need and mood. Does the job and reliable than link(I've used it, bad experience).