I've been using this and recently had a very unpleasant experience: it couldn't mount my new Chinese android phone (worked with the old one!) and the "send file" feature subtly renamed my files (from .tif to .tiff).

It cost me four hours (QField atrocious error messages) and I'm still angry about it.

At least in my use case (as link between Android devices and both Linux/Win PCs) KDE Connect is a real killer app. It enabled seamless integration and saved me lots of hassle and time. It really should get more exposure.

I see reports that it doesn't work. These are mostly for distros where Plasma is either rather old or taking a backseat after other environment (usually Gnome). I'm having great results with the latest Plasma 6 on Slackware-current and also in a standard Windows 11 environment.

This is a killer app. There have been times when I asked someone "why can't you just send me a screenshot on signal" or "Oh, can't you copy the URL to your desktop?"... only to realize that the poor fellow didn't have KDE connect (yet).

It's not perfect, but it does things I haven't found anywhere else, makes your phone and laptop and pc.

It might help that I'm actually running KDE everywhere, of course.

The feature set commenters here want is insane:

* fast as possible

* LAN, but also WAN when necessary

* in fact how about multi-protocol, and use the fastest protocol that's available on both devices, it's 2025 people!

* work for sending a gargantuan amount of files with possible interruptions (essentially, be rsync)

* be battery efficient, it's 2025 people!

* don't rely on a centralized cloud server, just connect the damned devices to each other

If you think you can hack this together, you should write it for Gnu Hurd because they'll release that well before you're finished

The branding does a major disservice to this application - it works like a charm on my windows and i3wm setups, having no trouble sharing a clipboard and files. There are very few features if any that only work on KDE.

Sometimes on windows it needs a click of the refresh button to get going after connecting to a network. The discovery is wonky on some platforms.

when it works it's amazing. but very often both my phone and laptop are connected to the same WiFi, yet kde connect can't see them. I can't figure out how to diagnose and solve that when it happens

KDE Connect has been my answer to Apple's Airdrop for the last couple of years. It's an excellent program; I even use it on my Mac for file transferring with my Steam Deck

I was wondering what "the network" here means:

> To achieve this, KDE Connect:

    implements a secure communication protocol over the network, and allows any developer to create plugins on top of it.
    Has a component that you install on your desktop.
    Has a KDE Connect client app you run on your phone.

KDE Connects works amazingly for me. I get, once in a bluee moon, the random "Can't see the other device" bug. I have solved it with the basic dis/connect to the wifi both on my phone and computer. Also, check your Firewall on your computer. Some distros will not "Auto add" KDE Connect to the exception list of your Firewall. Some routers also put LAN and WLAN devices on different VLANS.

Is there any update on whether Apple had already opened their iOS API in EU, which would allow to match the KDE Connect's Android functionality?

I love KDE connect. After install I turn off things I don't want, but I have options. Works better than any similar app. Connects essentially and system. I pair it with tail scale or zero-tier depending on needs. Multiboot, all major os's mobile. PC, Mac all have ports. It's under rated

The one thing I dislike, is the trouble to finish the application in a sane way:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=423497

I also quite like Localsend to quickly share files on the same network. Used to send photos/files to myself on Whatsapp/Telegram before but after discovering Localsend, stopped!

https://localsend.org/

Note that you can use it on GNOME with GSConnect. One of my favorite apps

I've had trouble getting KDE connect to work as a shared clipboard between Android and my Mac. Has anyone ever done that successfully? I couldn't find any documentation to indicate people have which is a real bummer.

I was exasperated when I found out that I can't send files from my Android to my MacBook via Bluetooth. This is a standard protocol. Also (of course, how could I supect otherwise) the file transfer does not work too. These all work flawlessly under Linux / Gnome + KDE.

For file transfer I used LocalSend, but it was still annoying.

How well does this work for sending a lot of files without re-sending the same file?

I have a desktop + laptop + phone.

When I want to sync a directory with a lot of files I wrote a little shell script that uses rsync to do it. This does require running SSH on my laptop but I can invoke the shell script from my desktop.

Likewise with my phone I want to backup my camera photos, using rsync is nice here to avoid sending thousands of them over every time. I run SSH on my phone with Termux, it was really painless to set up and is only on when I run it. Likewise, I invoke the shell script from my desktop to do the transfer.

It works in one direction: sending files from my Pixel (GOS) phone to Linux.

But the UX could be better. When I send a file, no notification is shown on my phone. But when I look in my Downloads/ folder, the file is there, so that's good.

Now, when I open the kdeconnect-app on Linux, it cannot connect to my phone. Even if the app is open on my phone. I see the phone, but it says "disconnected".

So, as it stands, I put this in the "barely works, needs more love from developers" category.

I use this between my Arch/KDE desktop + Samsung Galaxy S21, and it works beautifully.

There's official support for Windows. No support for macOS yet, but there is a working implementation for it. I had no idea I'd be able to use KDE Connect with those operating systems.

I love KDE Connect, it is insanely useful and pairs nicely with KDE Plasma.

But I think it has some major usability issues. The two things I struggle with the most:

1. Sometimes (not always, but often!) the phone is not connected to the computer at all. In order to send something from the computer to the phone, I have to unlock the phone, find KDE connect in the apps, run it, and connect to the computer. I understand that this could very well be just The Way of Android, but it's still obnoxious.

2. The text/SMS sub-app in KDE connect is terrible. It doesn't sync text messages in the background, so it tries to sync when you start it. But it's very slow and takes a good 5-10 minutes for all of your text messages to sync. And apparently it does contacts last because in the beginning you only see phone numbers. And it doesn't show pictures. And (this is normally not a complaint I make), it is very ugly. GS Connect looks way better, but I have no idea if it _works_ any better.

It blew my mind when I discovered it, and I use it regularly since. I dual-boot, and it's installed on both my Linux and Windows systems. I mostly use the shared clipboard functionality (especially great to "send" complex messages and passwords from PC to phone), and send files from the phone to the PC.

I wish KDE Connect supported a self hosted relay server configuration. I often use mobile internet and would love for KDE Connect to still work, without having to start Tailscale on my phone + manually configure IPs

Been using this application for years now. Love / Support it

I discovered this when I needed an easy way to get stuff to and from a Steam Deck. I now use it on my Windows and Linux PCs, Macbook, Android phone, Meta Quest and the Steam Deck!

This looks neat, from what it looks like it's essentially an Open Source version of Apple's continuity/airdrop/airplay stuff?

Seems like it even does the universal clipboard as well, I use that all the time with Apple devices, really cool to see an OSS alternative.

Slightly tangential, I find the lack of a "proper" way of organizing data across multiple devices frankly terrible. KDE connect is nice, but it's a bandaid patch. Airdrop between your devices is the same. Apple wants you to store everything on iCloud... which isn't terrible, as long as everything syncs fast enough, you can pay, and you're not without internet (an issue even in urban areas like for eg on the subway).

Modern devices have just "grown", your phone with its 2FA app is also a source of identity, yet the boundaries between a tool to be used, a computer to "work on" (even an SMS to your boss counts as work for me!), and a "fundamental part of your life" - whether by you or by a megacorp (see: notifications! Mindless scrolling on the social media of your choice!) - are all blurred.

KDE Connect is great, but it sometimes doesn't work well enough on Apple Devices. I've been using LocalSend with better success when sharing to Android or Windows. But for Android to Linux/Windows and Vice versa, it's pretty much perfect.

I like this with Linux but it's so inconsistent on windows that I just don't bother with it much anymore. I'm on windows most of the time.

The gyro mouse is a fantastic implementation! Used it to control a large television from far away and it works very well.

Used to use this all the time, but about six months ago an update broke the ability for two computers I have to interact. Instead the daemon crashes repeatedly until I nuke it.

This seems to have more technical info: https://userbase.kde.org/KDEConnect

E.g. that it works over the local network or bluetooth only, no remote connectivity without a VPN which the marketing page with fancy graphics (https://kdeconnect.kde.org/) doesn't even tell you because it's so dumbed down to the point of being useless.

Also, why the fuck does KDE have two separate wikis.

KDE Connect is amazing. It's convenient.

> enables all your devices to communicate with each other

I've tried using KDE connect on two desktops (my laptop running Fedora KDE and my desktop running Nobara, also Fedora KDE) and this statement appears false. It was extremely buggy connecting them, and when they did "see" each other, none of the functionality I expected worked. Wanted to use the shared clipboard feature but it didn't work, nor did anything else.

This was early this year, maybe it's gotten better since?

KDE Connect is really for mobile (Android) devices and a computer, not computer to computer, IME

I always appreciate posts like this even though it’s clear a lot of people already know about KDE connect. I only took the plunge into a Linux daily driver for my machine a couple of months ago, so I’m still learning a lot. Just tested it and this is really useful! I depend a lot on LocalSend which is fine but this is so far looking like a better option overall.

Gets a little funky talking to my iPhone but I’m surprised how easily things like the remote control work right out the box

I can't get this to work across subnets/wifi networks in my home network. My phone can see my workstation (KDE) but not the other way around.

Can this be used without KDE, on another desktop environment? Without systemd, even?