Heh, I wrote all of the docs, hence the typos :)

* 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.

I tried setting this up on Fedora 44 and couldn't get it to connect on WiFi or Bluetooth even after installing the iOS app and running the recommended terminal commands for BT setup. The devices can sometimes see each other, and at points one or the other will say they're connected, but it never fully establishes a working 2-way connection and none of the features ever become available. The whole process definitely feels buggy and broken (not sure how much of that is on Tether and how much is on the ecosystem).

No, Tether is end-to-end encrypted on all fronts. mTLS on WiFi and Bluetooth encryption on that side.

No, unfortunately. This is one Apple limitation I haven't found a way around yet. I am close though.

This is a very good point and I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. I considered contributing to KDE Connect but decided against it for many reasons:

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.

There "is" already a kde connect browser extension.

Just add to it

This is a good question. No, OpenBubbles impersonates a Mac and talks to Apple's servers. Tether connects to the phone via Bluetooth and asks the iphone to send/receive messages. OpenBubbles's technique is not supported by Apple, while their Bluetooth version is.

Besides messaging it doesn't do any of the other stuff Tether does (author, im biased).

Thank you! Yeah, this is a lot more features than openbubbles could ever do. Going to check it out for sure. Thanks for making it!

Thank you for all the hard work and inspiration.

Yes, and it's great. But you can't iMessage / SMS or get Notifications with iPhone.

My absolute favorite feature in KDE Connection is full audio device output / input control remotely so I can silence notifications without getting up or start playing music through the speakers.