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.
@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social
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 @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social
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.
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.
Ahh this one I didn't know! Awesome thanks!
Easiest way for me to transfer my ROMs to my Steam Deck, even while using it in Windows
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.
also works on GNOME! (gsconnect)
like most apps on Linux, kde connect was never exclusive to any desktop. you don't need gsconnect.
@kde@floss.social
Not anyone know that KDE connect works on all devices, Android to android, Linux to Windows and all combinations.
So no need to use something like a bad copy from Microsoft.
I'll just leave this here:
Look what they need just to mimic a fraction of our power
Phone link is SHIT, it only works sometimes and never when ya need it to
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.
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
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.
Interesting that they bothered to make this considering KDE Connect already works on Windows
I'm sure it might stop working soon enough. For your safety.
@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.
@kde@lemmy.kde.social
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.
That's my problem with KDE. Probably the one most useful feature it could implement, it doesn't have.
@kde@floss.social why isn't it called KDE Konnect instead of Connect?
It requires you sign in to a Microsoft Account for it to TRY TO work
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.
I wonder if KDE connect could leverage the way Syncthing does device discovery and pairing
It works across networks, with no configuration
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
@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social
Kde connect is awesome!
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.
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.
This is not new. Has been there for a while
@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social 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.
Does KDE connect actually work with SMS on Windows now? Last time I used it, I couldn't text people, only reply using the notification if they texted me and I happened to click on it quickly enough. Pretty useless.
Based.
And yes, KDE Connect ftw
No screen mirroring though 😕
Maybe scrcpy is the tool for you then.
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