# KDE Connect 73 Hacker News commenters recommended KDE Connect and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free app that links Android phones with Windows, Linux and macOS, sharing clipboard, files and notifications. Common caveat: iOS support is limited and connections often drop. ## Why people recommend it - Clipboard and file sharing (7 comments): "kdeconnect synchronizing clipboard between phone and laptop, that will also stay up independent of your home router." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46584052)) "allowing you to share all kinds of things, including contacts or clipboard contents, between connected devices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829076)) "KDEconnect over a VPN works extremely well for clipboard and file and notification sharing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46994342)) - Phone notifications and texts on desktop (5 comments): "it does everything on Android at least - clipboard sync, notifications, sms, calls, remote control and media playback control" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492273)) "sending SMS on desktop from phone, pausing phone podcast from desktop, sharing files from XR headset to desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49828424)) "one feature in KDE Connect that is super useful is being able to forward your notifications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912749)) - Works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (6 comments): "It's embarrassing how much better kdeconnect is on windows than the official microsoft offering." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359961)) "KDE Connect makes this work between all combinations Windows/macOS/Linux and iOS/Android" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46011166)) "I use KDE Connect to send my clipboard around between iOS, Windows, Android, and Linux." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47511761)) - Seamless, reliable, outperforms Apple Continuity (4 comments): "KDE Connect is such a seamless experience of integrating your phone with your computer out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829785)) "makes Apple's Continuity look like a toy and that also lets me programmatically filter notifications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911188)) "KDE Connect is more reliable than Continuity Clipboard, in my experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46455910)) ## What people warn about - Limited iOS support (3 comments): "Yes, and it's great. But you can't iMessage / SMS or get Notifications with iPhone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492655)) "KDEConnect is great, but it's a little awkward to use with iOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49495673)) "KDE Connect with iOS, while useful, is terrible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46457391)) - Breaks randomly, drops connections (3 comments): "find it randomly breaks every month or so and for the life of me cannot figure out why" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47933666)) "KDEConnect often temporarily loses sight of my phone, yet it still reports being connected to WiFi." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46677646)) "then something somewhere broke (now it's unable to pair)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929415)) - Hard to set up or pair (4 comments): "after almost a whole day of googling around and trying to compile and solve whatever missing libraries or drivers, it never connected" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49491325)) "then something somewhere broke (now it's unable to pair)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929415)) "I can't get KDE connect to work for the life of me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492821)) - Unreliable in background, can't stay active (2 comments): "Notification mirroring doesn't work, you can't read/respond to text messages, it can't reliably run in the background." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093858)) "KDE Connect cannot remain active while the application is not in the foreground." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46457413)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [scrcpy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/scrcpy.md): 25 recommend - [Microsoft Phone Link](https://hackerapproved.com/p/phone-link.md): 5 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "KDE Connect", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kde-connect/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).