Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux(zackbartel.com) |
Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux(zackbartel.com) |
Nuts, I'm on xfce, and don't intend to switch over until it's necessary.
Why is Wayland necessary for this?
I can't think of an ideological reason that apps shouldn't require Wayland that wouldn't apply to anything else. Isn't it just as bad for an app to require X11 or to require Linux or to require Windows or to require Android? You are free to port it to X11 or any other platform.
Pretty cool stuff either way!
Edit: clarification in my reply later in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492003
> universal clipboard is synchronized over internet, it is not done trough cable connection. it uses apple continuity service, what you put into UC is uploaded into apple cloud,..
https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice/issues/...
That's why I'm a bit confused now.
> don't let the "KDE" fool you
Being GNOME2-then-MATE user, it really would.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tether-linux-companion/id67620...
Never felt superiour over others for it.
What's a feature not in KDE connect that the writer wanted and it didn't have?
They could always submit a pr.
Beeper exists you know....
I have a question. It's fine to build for your own self but is it okay to release something in public when the environment is a moving target and you are just a one-man team keeping it afloat?
Wouldn't it be better to go behind established FOSS products and not reinvent the wheel when you don't have to?
I understand no one can tell you how to or why to do certain things but there comes a time, when youw want to help, not build the next temple os and instead help manjaro or whatever is cool these days?
Even features that do exist don't always work reliably. I can't send files between devices, most of the time clipboard sharing doesn't work either, and there's loads not implemented.
> What's a feature not in KDE connect that the writer wanted and it didn't have?
From TFA:
"And Tether now supports: iMessage, SMS, Notifications, Contact sync on Linux. In addition to its previous: File Transfer, Clipboard Sync, OTP handling."
> Wouldn't it be better to go behind established FOSS products and not reinvent the wheel when you don't have to?
From TFA:
"Before you ask, I know KDE Connect exists. It's great! If you're on Android you should definitely use it. The problem is that it didn't do what I wanted and it's roadmap indicated it never would."
Maybe next time read the article before commenting?
1. This would be a major subsystem added to KDE Connect and I have no history with the project.
2. The KDE Connect roadmap explicitly lists iMessage / SMS support as "Won't Implement"
3. My project requires a browser extension and mail extension, I can't imagine I have much of a chance of getting a "KDE Connect" extension approved.
4. Time: it would have taken much longer to jump through all the (appropriate) hoops.
5. Choice. While I'm not a fan of Omarchy, I LOVE what it is doing. Having an alternative to the Big Two and embracing "custom" desktops is very appealing to me, and I think it is a good thing for Linux and FOSS.
6. I was going to do this no matter what, it worked better than I expected, I wanted everyone to have it.
Just add to it
Where are more plugins for it? How you add them? Where are docs for creating them?
I haven't had a great feeling when asking its dev about stuff but hope that situation has changed. Having a proper plugin system would let people like OP extend KDEConnect and potentially benefit more people, instead of being subjected to the will of its devs and the roadmap.
Could be GrapheneOS/arch interop or something.
So far (really only a couple hours), Tether seems a lot more polished.
> iMessage, SMS, Notifications, Contact sync on Linux.
Also email OTP handling.
Furthermore, a lot (most, really) of Tether's functionality works without having to open the app. Exactly 0 KDE Connect features do that.
Huh, haven't thought of it. Just relicensed ancs4linux to MIT.
It’s things like this that give me hope for the world.
We are facing very real global and societal issues that people on this site are actively exacerbating, like disinformation and climate change.
If a dude changing an inconsequential text file on GitHub gives you hope for the world, then please broaden your perspective.
[0] copyleft-licensed library that could be legally linked into non-copyleft code base.
EUPL is also basically GPL without being viral, too.
I never expected to read such a statement on this website.
I have had a iPhone for 15 years, and I have only ever been able to back it up with iTunes on windows (as I will never buy a Mac).
Apple’s refusal to provide interoperability borders on criminal. I wish there was a better option.
The group messages were the biggest problem, and that's what made me give up, but there were some other issues:
- Shared links showed up as "Website: Short description (example.com)" and didn't include the URL
- Images weren't shown at all
I might take a look and see how blueferry handled those limitations.
[blueferry doc] https://github.com/erikwb/blueferry/blob/main/PROTOCOL.md
[inspiration] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23411520#23413394
[Bluetooth MAP standard] https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specs/message-acces...
IOW Linux ecosystem has better vertical integration without any direct ties with Android :)
[0]: https://github.com/GSConnect/gnome-shell-extension-gsconnect
My plan is to get a Linux phone (or convert an Android phone to Linux) and use it as a daily driver, but keep an old iPhone around for regular calls and texts, and for compatibility with some apps like banking apps. Tether seems like it could be useful to bridge that gap, so all I'd need to do is just keep the iPhone in my vicinity and never actually have to operate it, unless it's for using some proprietary app/service.
Thank you very much for this! KDEConnect is great, but it's a little awkward to use with iOS (because of Apple, not the great developers), so this is a nice project to see.
I don't see references to contributions, do you have a patreon or something?
Besides messaging it doesn't do any of the other stuff Tether does (author, im biased).
There’s shairport-sync, which works pretty well: https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync
* GTK interface is buggy on hyprland (could only click buttons when app was on its own screen and not set to fullscreen)
* docs are vibe slop and incorrect:
~ tether pair
[2026-08-30 11:33:26.084] [ERR] Unknown action. Run tether --help for options
~ tether --pair
[2026-08-30 11:33:29.949] [ERR] Pairing requires a TCP+TLS connection. Use --host to specify a target.
* installation requires sudo escalation to configure bluetooth settings with a vague warning but no real explanation of what the risks are.
* couldn't get it to reliably connect - the feedback from linux and ios apps were vague and didn't help with what was broken or what was required to fix it.
Promising project, I'd love a solution like this but not worth my time for now.
Tether is "merely" talking to your iPhone over bluetooth and the local network. It does nothing if you don't already have an iPhone. Apple should have no more reason to come after this than it does a Garmin watch that can show your iMessages via bluetooth.
Of course, every spammer dreams of their spam texts coming through as a blue bubble.
This part surprises me a bit. Fable always falls back to opus for me the instant 'security' is involved (thanks for that, Anthropic)
I use LocalSend and every now and then the connection does not work and I have to restart it on the phone.
No affiliation; just a satisfied user.
I don't use Mightytext a lot any more except for 2FA since I mostly use Signal for messaging. And of course Signal has an Electron app for desktop that works for both text and voice.
For file and photo sharing I just use Dropbox. I have Dropbox on my phone set to upload photos as soon as I take them, which means they also show up immediately in a folder on my desktop (on MacOS. I assume this works in Dropbox for Linux but haven't tested it.) Caveat: Dropbox still doesn't support ARM Linux. It's Intel only. WTF Dropbox??
The nice thing about Tether is that it’s read only so won’t be attractive to spammers.
[0]: https://github.com/jkcoxson/idevice
Maybe it’s time to try it again, but it’s an arms race from what I remember. Apple just keeps changing things; if you’re on the latest iOS version, it was unlikely to work. Has that changed?
I'm considering running my own chatmail relay, although I haven't tried that yet.
Because I trust Google even less than Apple (and a de-Googled phone would not be useful to me).
Sure! Apple can do whatever they want with their devices. But when they sell them to people, it’s no longer theirs.
People are (IMHO rightfully) not happy with a general computing device not being open.
Societies are pushing back against this practice through legal means, which is good!
The best part is if people want to stay inside whatever ecosystem, they can! It can be opt-in to enable developer mode to do what you can already do on any desktop PC.
If you want to lock down gran and gramps iphone (or PC for that matter), you can! Make an admin account and have them use an account with less privileges.
We can have the best of all worlds. An integrated ecosystem. Security. User computing rights.
As to iMessage, think carefully about the architecture, and maybe you can imagine why it is Apple only.
* This is troubling as I've tested it extensively in Hyprland on different machines.
* You are right that the root installation requirements need more clarification. I was so focused on making it as easy as possible for the user that I buried important details.
* The failures to connect are an endless battle given the crazy inconsistencies in bt controllers. ~/.local/state/tether/tetherd.log should have the details I need to debug it, if you are inclined to open an issue.
When I start the gtk app, it has a scan devices button but it never finds my phone even though I've paired via bluetooth and its on same LAN.
The iOS app just has a spinning icon that goes forever even though it sees my computer name in the 'discovered devices' list.
I tried pairing from CLI and GTK app and no go on Wifi or Bluetooth.
tail -f ~/.local/state/tether/tetherd.log
I was then able to see and pair over wifi and bluetooth. Everything is enabled except Notifications (even though both address book sync + notifications are enabled in iOS bluetooth settings).
Clipboard sync working now as well as send/receive files.
The tether app still has occasional issues re-connecting to tether though when I move in and out of the app.
That being said, I’m with you in spirit and in action, but realistically it’s pointless outside of living in accordance with your values.
Edit: Re-reading that, i just told you that your principles are pointless, and thats fucked up and wrong. I’m going to live in accordance with mine and not delete this, but apologies.
It’s rather that I think we all ought to stop making software that is primarily useful to businesses, because there is no more joy in that with AI-written PRs driving maintainers into burnout. Big tech finally has no more excuses as to why they don’t maintain all the bedrock libraries themselves. So I say, let them do that.
And on the other hand, since anyone can vibe code something now, the value of GitHub projects as CV material has gone down significantly, so I’d expect less people to do that. Good! Open Source as a community, as a movement, doesn’t need these people.
Let’s get back to the roots.
I work on climate solutions and find it in a lot of the threads here. It generally sounds like "Not only am I powerless, you are also powerless too", and it comes up in all sorts of ways.
No, but i propose we ostracize anyone who uses LLMs for the wrong reasons (i.e. not accessibility), and i hope you do too. The reasons are mostly not related to licenses, though, but it upholds licensing as a nice-to-have consequence.
(loved your comment edit)
The code is just going to be laundered anyways, so why bother putting on a license like AGPL that might just hinder adoption?
Maybe there is hope for the internet?
Doesn’t work like that. Better adapt and see how you can turn the tool to do your bidding rather than try to piss against the wind in the hope the wind changes direction the next 5 seconds. It won’t.
I'm using AI assistance a bunch, nothing fully vibe coded (yet) so what's it really matter? My "novel" approach to BOM line item attributes?
That was their one big plus and while I avoided it because of PGP, this means that it really has no upside over XMPP for me.
Quote from https://providers.delta.chat:
"Usually, it just works, but for some providers, you need to adjust the settings. In this case, click on “prepare” for details.
Please note that push notifications do not work with classic providers and esp. large classic providers often have sending limits and overzealous spam rejections. This can worsen the chat experience, as messages are delayed or missing messages may even disrupt groups."
I use Linux exclusively for my computers but for my phone I have no choice but to use either Apple or Android because of banking/government/etc. apps that don't work on custom roms. Yes there are workarounds but I've gotten app breakage or account suspensions for that. And yeah I trust Apple more than Google in terms of privacy so I end up choosing the lesser of two evils.
Otherwise I self-host everything and stay off the cloud whenever possible.
Not to be Debbie Downer but making one small corner of the world a little bit better has no effect on what matters to billions of people.
We are facing very real global and societal issues that people are actively exacerbating.
If a dude explaining that there’s not much use in complaining robs you of hope for the world, then please broaden your perspective.Not sure why people having their own subjective views and preferences is such a hard concept to grasp.
I’ve gotten my close friends onto Signal but there are still always 3-4 group chats where that isn’t possible.
I'm sure it's possible for them to use Signal but some people are unreasonably stubborn.
If you really want blue bubbles, use Signal, the default color is blue.
Kids liked renaming group chats and liking/reacting to individual messages, and sending higher-res photos, and one "green bubble" participant nerfed the whole chat for everyone.
In spite of Apple knowing kids got bullied over this, meh, money. Thankfully this has now been just about fixed (depending on which Android version/carrier someone has), so green bubble stigma should be on its way out [eventually].
Firmly believe no one ever actually cared about the color.
All of these problems could be avoided if iMessage was cross-platform or if people just used something else. Nobody is being forced to use iMessage