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Comment by obloid | Hacker News Reader

I've been using KDE connect recently and it's great for moving files between my phone and laptop. Another fun feature is sharing a url from the phone to the laptop and it opens the browser to the page. I don't know of any similar software but being able to do the same thing between iOS and android would be great.

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I second KDE Connect. Despite the name, it's not limited to KDE by any means - there's implementations for Windows, MacOS, and even GNOME Shell. It's very straightforward to set up and has a bunch of other features besides file transfer, like using your phone as a touchpad, sending SMS messages from the desktop, or pinging either device.

Reading the comments here I was excited to install KDE connect but it simply won't launch on Windows 10.

I see kdeconnectd.exe and kdeconnect-indicator.exe running in the task manager but nothing else. Nothing in the tray either.

I've seen similar complaints on googling but none has ever been resolved.

Does anyone else have it working on Windows?

I second this. File transfers between my phone and computer are seamless and quick. I can even use it to find my phone when I use it. It is rare to find open source software that Just Works, and KDE Connect is one of these rare gems that does so.

Would have been a strong contender if it had an iOS client

The developers gave a statement on this:

1. gpl and apple appstore don't go along

2. ios apps cannot run in the background in ways that kde connect needs

3. ios does not permit 99% of things that make kde connect interesting and useful

blame apple for this, not the kde connect devs.

Apple is definitely to blame here, but I won't settle for a solution worse than dropbox or google drive regarding the shareability on iOS

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