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Ask HN: Apple like integration between iPhone/Android and Linux

by whatarethembits on 11/7/24, 2:25 PM with 10 comments

Hi HN, from your own experience, has the experience of integrating your phone (iPhone and Android both) with Linux improved in the last 4 years? Specifically copy/pasting seamlessly and transferring files. I use these features 10+ times a day for work and kinda non-negotiable. Before I moved to Apple ecosystem, I used PushBullet and it was a pain, Apple's integration is much better in terms of friction. I'd also tried KDEConnect, but found it to be extremely flaky.

I'm due to upgrade my MacBook and can't help but feel like a fool for agreeing to being fleeced for Apple's memory and storage nonsense, even if affordability is not an issue. Also I'd like to not depend on one company so much. My only reservation is phone integration story on Linux; is it possible to get it close to Apple's version? I don't mind putting in the work to set things up initially, as long as it can be relied upon in a pinch going forward.

Thanks!

  • by freedomben on 11/12/24, 7:46 PM

    I'm a Gnome user so can't speak to KDE, but on Gnome GSConnect is pretty good. It definitely has much more of a open source/hacker feel to it than I'm sure the Apple experience does, so that part may be disappointing, but the features do all work pretty well. When you're on the same LAN it is also lightning fast. I often get a notification on my laptop that I have an incoming call before it even starts to ring.

    Big limitation there is that there's no server sitting in the middle, so they have to be able to speak directly. Obviously not a problem at home or on the same wifi, but if you want it while traveling then you can add something like Tailscale or similar. Very, very easy to get setup and works pretty well. It does introduce a lot more latency than I'd like depending on where each device is, but it's very usable.

    I would also definitely take a look at scrcpy[1]. It's really a killer app that lets you connect nearly everything on your phone over adb. I use it via USB, but it works just fine over wireless adb as well. You can forward audio, video, clipboard, and much, much more (for example, you can use your laptop keyboard and/or mouse to select thing on the mobile).

    All in all it's likely to be a step down in some ways, but probably a step up in others (unless there's a scrcpy equivalent for mac/iphone). The freedom you gain though more than makes up for it IMHO.

    [1]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy

  • by mcsniff on 11/9/24, 2:45 PM

    KDEConnect (GSConnect or another implementation) or scrcpy + a service like Tailscale or ZeroTier is going to be your best option really.

    Apple has a lot of invasive back-end "magic" going on to allow Continuity and the seamless sharing between iOS and MacOS.

  • by mcint on 11/13/24, 1:58 AM

    Most recently I've had issues due to the iOS Local Network entitlement, that's now required at iOS 16, or a little earlier.

    Accessing anything on the local network other than the gateway address is blocked in browser (I hope apple correctly handles gateways not on the first address in the private IP range), goodbye most of the usefulness, though closes some long-standing web security and privacy or fingerprinting concerns. It's mainly annoying because it doesn't fit into other existing paradigms. And I can't override the permission for my browser, not even occasionally turn it in, because my browser doesn't request it.

  • by brudgers on 11/8/24, 9:25 PM

    On Ubuntu, I connect to iCloud with Firefox to access stuff from my iOS devices. iCloud is one of my Home tabs for several of my browser identities.

    I guess it's more trouble than AirDrop. But that's a guess because it isn't really much trouble.

  • by lukeaf on 11/12/24, 7:48 PM

    I have been using LocalSend (https://localsend.org) between macOS, Windows, and Linux. It works great. It has Android and iOS clients as well but I haven't tried on mobile yet.

  • by lylejantzi3rd on 11/13/24, 12:12 AM

    I've enjoyed NearDrop[0] for file transfer. I don't do copy/paste between devices.

    https://github.com/grishka/NearDrop