Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux

[−]pzmarzly · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:23 UTC · link

> Personally, I think putting an interoperability protocol implementation behind a copyleft license is a little unfortunate!

Huh, haven't thought of it. Just relicensed ancs4linux to MIT.

[−]kees99 · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:27 UTC · link

Isn't this[0] the use-case that is supposedly covered by LGPL?

[0] copyleft-licensed library that could be legally linked into non-copyleft code base.

[−]voakbasda · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:33 UTC · link

I love HN. Read an article that raises a reasonable point about a project’s license, and that project’s author shows up to announce they were convinced and changed the license accordingly. Repo was updated 5 minutes ago.

It’s things like this that give me hope for the world.

[−]stackghost · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:23 UTC · link

Not to be Debbie Downer but software licensing has no effect on what matters to billions of people.

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.

[−]kaonwarb · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:29 UTC · link

Making one small corner of the world a little bit better is a good thing. There's not much use in complaining that it's not as big of an impact as could hypothetically be achieved on some larger issues.

[−]stackghost · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:34 UTC · link

It's things like this that rob my of my hope for the world.

[−]chermi · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:14 UTC · link

Lol. Someone liking this change is stupid for letting it lift their outlook, right? How stupid is it then to let this comment rob your hope.

[−]Barbing · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:35 UTC · link

:) Alternative reply to lighten mood in odd thread:

  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.

[−]chermi · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:47 UTC · link

You understand I'm on your side here, right?

[−]Barbing · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:28 UTC · link

Sorry yes, giving silly alt reply

[−]mrec · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:11 UTC · link

“He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer.” -- William Blake

[−]rewgs · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:30 UTC · link

You are indeed being a Debbie Downer.

[−]kian · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:37 UTC · link

So I'm guessing you don't do anything except what matters to billions of people? Always 100% fully generalized contributions, never making your local world a better place? Your only local contributions being to tell off people who are grateful that their lives are materially improved by someone else's smaller actions... You must be beloved by your community.

[−]literallyroy · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:51 UTC · link

I saw someone smile at the park the other day, do you think you could talk to them for me?

[−]yard2010 · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:56 UTC · link

Not GP but I feel like that's kinda their point - the fact that we still have this platform to collaborate in such an organic way is truly remarkable and must not be taken for granted.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:34 UTC · link

Actually a lot of that bad stuff billionaires are doing is enabled by MIT licensed software. Like, device lockdown is illegal with GPL3

[−]LinuxIsntVeryGo · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:18 UTC · link

People are concerned about having homes to live in and having food to eat. They aren't concerned about 'device lockdown'. Try to see the bigger picture.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:27 UTC · link

Device lockdown is why our biggest billionaires are billionaires. It's how they made their money and still make it.

[−]fg137 · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:37 UTC · link

If Apple starts allowing sideloading apps they'll still get at least 95% of their revenue today.

Just look at the s***show on Android.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:40 UTC · link

No, Apple losing its 30% cut of all transactions made on iPhones is an existential risk to them.

[−]sicktriple · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:59 UTC · link

This is verifiably false. Without copyleft licensing like the GPL or permissive licensing like MIT and Apache we literally would not have the internet, or it would be somehow even more wildly dystopian and proprietary than it already is.

[−]sophrosyne42 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:54 UTC · link

You must be fun at parties

[−]LastTrain · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:47 UTC · link

I think you like very much to be a debbie downer

[−]LtWorf · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:24 UTC · link

I'm not a scab, so I won't use permissive licenses on my unpaid projects. People who want to use them at work can cry me a river.

[−]9dev · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:41 UTC · link

Same. Started to adopt AGPLv3 for every new project. With AI sucking up all the CV-driven contributors, it’s time to take back open source as a joyful hobby for nerds that enjoy programming and sharing their creations with one another, instead of being corpo stans that do free support for shareholder driven enterprises.

[−]threecheese · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:49 UTC · link

Do you think AGPL is going to stop a crawler from incorporating your work into their training set? I don’t. There are zero meaningful consequences atm.

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.

[−]lostlogin · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:52 UTC · link

What a thread.

Maybe there is hope for the internet?

[−]arcanemachiner · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:20 UTC · link

That's kinda how I'm thinking about this in terms of licenzing my upcoming projects.

The code is just going to be laundered anyways, so why bother putting on a license like AGPL that might just hinder adoption?

[−]edoceo · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:09 UTC · link

I went through similar thoughts. Settled on just dropping everything under MIT.

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?

[−]LtWorf · 2026-08-30 Sun 06:24 UTC · link

Then just not publish it I think.

[−]selfhoster1312 · 2026-08-30 Sun 06:41 UTC · link

> Do you think AGPL is going to stop a crawler from incorporating your work into their training set?

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)

[−]atmosx · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:16 UTC · link

Yeah, let’s go back to 1930 because if we cry wolf loud enough the wolf will disappear…? That it?

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.

[−]9dev · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:12 UTC · link

I don’t really care that the things I make will invariably be scooped up and ingested into the training data.

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.

[−]tough · 2026-08-30 Sun 09:14 UTC · link

> the value of GitHub projects as CV material has gone down significantly, this might be true but the effect doesn't seem to translate, if you go by github difficulties to accomodate growth this past year, people are putting those vibe coded repos onto github, even if the signal vs noise ratio is much greater now, that only means you get more shitty repos vs non shitty now

[−]tito · 2026-08-30 Sun 14:35 UTC · link

Thanks for leaving it up! I'm on the perimeter of the HN community generally, but one observation is that what you said is present in a lot of discussions here. Kind of an "insistent powerless". I wonder if sentiment analysis over the years would show this is on the rise at HN. As a long time reader it seems like it is to me, but it could certainly be my own bias etc.

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.

[−]Muromec · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:14 UTC · link

I don't bother so much with licenses, but learned to reply with "that would be 1k bucks" instead of "you are welcome" where someone wants my library to do something it didn't before.

[−]tito · 2026-08-30 Sun 14:10 UTC · link

Neat, I learned about copyleft thanks to this discussion. Will consider copyleft for my future projects! Open source that creates more open source.

[−]LeFantome · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:36 UTC · link

Thank you!

[−]Luker88 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:50 UTC · link

You might want to check again for something that has patent protection. apache2+llvm exception, or just the mozilla public license...

EUPL is also basically GPL without being viral, too.

[−]zackb · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:52 UTC · link

Thank you for all the hard work and inspiration.

[−]nvr219 · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:02 UTC · link

Hero

[−]huimang · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:29 UTC · link

Please consider using the LGPL instead.

[−]2Gkashmiri · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:24 UTC · link

I don't know.

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?

[−]utopiah · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:25 UTC · link

Glad you brought that up, I was actually going to suggest not to replace KDE Connect but rather to become interoperable with it because AFAIR (but didn't touch an iPhone for few years now) there is no iOS client for it.

[−]cpuguy83 · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:00 UTC · link

kdeconnect has an iOS client.

[−]utopiah · 2026-08-30 Sun 12:17 UTC · link

Ah nice, I had no idea. Then if I was somehow forced into using iOS I'd probably try that first.

[−]cpuguy83 · 2026-08-30 Sun 13:28 UTC · link

It doesn't do messages or notifications. "Just" things like file copy and clipboard.

[−]cassianoleal · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:32 UTC · link

I find KDE Connect severely lacking. It's great that it exists, and maybe it's really excellent with Android, but for iOS it's really not there yet.

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?

[−]foresto · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:23 UTC · link

Let's be fair: At least some of the features you quoted do work in KDE connect in my experience, so I had the same question as GP. Even after reading the article.

[−]cassianoleal · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:28 UTC · link

Like I mentioned, I found KDE Connect to be lacking but mostly even the feature that it does have, don't always work.

So far (really only a couple hours), Tether seems a lot more polished.

[−]2Gkashmiri · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:25 UTC · link

"What" features. Imessage? Thats it?

[−]cassianoleal · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:47 UTC · link

I'm sorry, do you require glasses? It's written right there.

> 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.

[−]tamimio · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:43 UTC · link

Personally, few years ago I wanted to use kde connect with my iPhone, and I don’t remember the distro now but it’s when I had to install kde connect later it wasn’t part of it, and after almost a whole day of googling around and trying to compile and solve whatever missing libraries or drivers, it never connected.. so yeah I welcome the fact that there are alternatives, always!

[−]alex7o · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:11 UTC · link

I would argue that if you have the same setup as the author then use it. Yes a moving target but won't you fix something you use for yourself? Also point an agent at it get it back working in a few hours of waiting :P

[−]Gualdrapo · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:20 UTC · link

One of the not cool things about KDE Connect is that its "plugins" system doesn't seem like 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.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:38 UTC · link

I suspect this is the wrong way to think about it. Since it's FOSS, you don't even need a plugin system to extend it. Likely the plugins are just an internal organisation structure.

[−]jrm4 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:04 UTC · link

A genuine question, does anyone here actually use KDE Connect as a daily driver to actually keep in touch with people? I would love to but, for example, when I'm on a university campus the possibility of keeping those two devices connected appears difficult if not impossible. I keep looking into both Bluetooth and/or the VPN route every once in a while, but it ends up not working and I give up. Something I'm missing, perhaps?

[−]unethical_ban · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:55 UTC · link

I can't get KDE connect to work for the life of me. So I guess something that works would be an improvement!

Could be GrapheneOS/arch interop or something.

[−]zackb · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:14 UTC · link

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.

[−]2Gkashmiri · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:24 UTC · link

There "is" already a kde connect browser extension.

Just add to it

[−]voakbasda · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:28 UTC · link

Mega-kudos to the author for chipping away at the wall around Apple’s garden.

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.

[−]abcd_f · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:45 UTC · link

Have a look at https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice and iOS backup projects that are based on it.

[−]voakbasda · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:59 UTC · link

Over the years, I have tried to make that solution work, but it never ever went smoothly.

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?

[−]dadoum · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:11 UTC · link

Or idevice [0] (the one I prefer), or go-ios [1], or pymobiledevice3 [2]

[0]: https://github.com/jkcoxson/idevice

[1]: https://github.com/danielpaulus/go-ios

[2]: https://github.com/doronz88/pymobiledevice3

[−]sneak · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:26 UTC · link

You could stop using iMessage and iCloud.

[−]Rohansi · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:49 UTC · link

Green bubbles, WhatsApp, Signal, etc. are not an option for a lot of people. I don't get it either.

[−]agoodusername63 · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:53 UTC · link

Because techies on average aren't socially popular enough to get anybody to make any effort to msg them on a better platform.

[−]nvme0n1p1 · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:20 UTC · link

Speak for yourself

[−]agoodusername63 · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:24 UTC · link

Ok! I don't use iMessage because people I want to talk to are happy to install a new app to do so. :)

[−]jorvi · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:06 UTC · link

… WhatsApp is the main messenger globally and it is the 'odd' people that use iMessage (and Signal, Telegram, etc.)

[−]Rohansi · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:41 UTC · link

Statistically, sure, but it's not evenly distributed across regions and cultures. People can find themselves in social circles where iMessage is the norm and be pressured into using it because others are unwilling to install a second messaging app.

[−]bluebarbet · 2026-08-30 Sun 12:04 UTC · link

Hard to imagine any "region or culture" where iMessage is the norm outside a section of the US middle class.

[−]smt88 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:11 UTC · link

I know people who have iPhones just for FaceTime because young and old non-techies use those a lot.

I’ve gotten my close friends onto Signal but there are still always 3-4 group chats where that isn’t possible.

[−]Rohansi · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:48 UTC · link

> 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.

[−]ihjbtvjkdidie · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:54 UTC · link

What is there to get? Some people just don’t want to use other services. Period.

Not sure why people having their own subjective views and preferences is such a hard concept to grasp.

[−]Rohansi · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:40 UTC · link

That's not what's hard to understand. It's choosing to exclusively use iMessage knowing that not everyone can use it. And then shifting your social circle based on one company's decision to not support it on other platforms.

[−]frankvdwaal · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:27 UTC · link

If you think that something extremely basic seems something that is hard to grasp for other people, it's usually because you're misunderstanding the situation, not because other people are failing to grasp the extremely basic thing.

[−]sneak · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:06 UTC · link

That’s simply not true.

[−]drnick1 · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:29 UTC · link

What is the problem with green bubbles? I don't get it. Doesn't it just mean the other person is not using an Apple device?

If you really want blue bubbles, use Signal, the default color is blue.

[−]Barbing · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:40 UTC · link

For years it meant fewer features and frustrating experiences in group chats.

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.

[−]Rohansi · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:06 UTC · link

RCS messages still show as green bubbles. I'm sure kids will still be bullied for it even if group chats didn't degrade.

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

[−]SirMaster · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:09 UTC · link

How has it been fixed? It's still just Apple parsing the messages that came through like so and so reacted with some emoji to some message, and then attaching it to that message. But then this doesn't work with reacting to attachments like photos as it doesn't know which photo was reacted to.

[−]kps · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:41 UTC · link

Apple's green bubbles are low contrast and hard to read, on purpose.

[−]k4rli · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:56 UTC · link

Or leave the walled garden entirely. GrapheneOS has all the same stuff.

[−]sneak · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:05 UTC · link

GrapheneOS hardware options are substantially behind iOS hardware options. Also Graphene is somewhat annoying to use; I missed shots bc the camera app didn’t open fast enough.

[−]alt227 · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:03 UTC · link

Pixels are definitely not substantially behind iPhones hardware. In fact it is very much the other way around.

[−]timcobb · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:29 UTC · link

Pixel is nice, in my opinion better than iOS, and more open for now

[−]KetoManx64 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:10 UTC · link

Especially with GrapheneOS

[−]Danox · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:58 UTC · link

Doesn’t interoperability work two(Windows)-three(Linux) ways?

[−]rpdillon · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:15 UTC · link

I'm shouting into the wind here a fair amount, but I just discovered DeltaChat and ArcaneChat. ArcaneChat is available only on Android, but DeltaChat is available on iOS and uses chatmail relays. My family has found it to be super useful and effective. I don't think it's viable to convert everybody in my social circle, but I've been very happy with the apps and attachments, notifications, and general performance.

https://chatmail.at/

I'm considering running my own chatmail relay, although I haven't tried that yet.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:02 UTC · link

DeltaChat was much more useful when it worked with any email server and didn't need its own special kind of server. We have plenty of messengers that use their own servers, like matrix, XMPP, and simplex.

[−]SahAssar · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:45 UTC · link

Didn't know they stopped working with regular email servers, that is a huge letdown. I'm guessing this was quite recent?

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.

[−]rpdillon · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:42 UTC · link

I appreciate the simplicity of hosting ChatMail versus a regular mail server. It's simpler, lighter weight, and better suited for the chat use case. It's basically the ideal messaging platform for my needs.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:51 UTC · link

It defeats the selling point of DeltaChat. You may as well use XMPP or Matrix.

[−]rpdillon · 2026-08-30 Sun 11:59 UTC · link

I've used both. Neither are as good. Your reply also completely ignores my point about the ease of hosting the infrastructure yourself. Prosody isn't too bad, but hosting Matrix is a nightmare -- as much as I admire what the Matrix crew is trying to do, the architecture is unwieldy and always has been.

[−]noAnswer · 2026-08-30 Sun 13:27 UTC · link

It still works with regular mail servers:

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."

[−]chanux · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:12 UTC · link

I use DeltaChat just by myself to share things between devices. Not really the intended purpose but it's good enough for me!

[−]slashdave · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:23 UTC · link

You mean the same Apple, who supports RCS, and historically supported open protocols?

As to iMessage, think carefully about the architecture, and maybe you can imagine why it is Apple only.

[−]conception · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:46 UTC · link

As a fanboy I can admit rcs came with them kicking and screaming against it.

[−]stevehawk · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:54 UTC · link

didn't it take legal threats from the EU to ultimately make it happen?

[−]ihjbtvjkdidie · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:52 UTC · link

Yeah, and I’ve yet to make any use of this feature. Nice to have, but let’s not pretend RCS is that big of a deal in any way.

[−]alt227 · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:06 UTC · link

You are obviously very new to the tech world if you dont recall the many years of customer lobbying, and Apple refusing outright for a long time until they were strongarmed into it by law. You cant then turn around and claim they are all sunshine and roses because they support open protocols when they were forced to begrudgingly.

[−]inventor7777 · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:19 UTC · link

Since you are dead-set against getting a Mac, why don't you move to Android? It seems like a better fit as Apple's whole thing is about continuity between their own devices, which obviously will not work for you.

[−]callc · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:48 UTC · link

> their own devices

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.

[−]alt227 · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:01 UTC · link

The best thing you can do is vote with your wallet, and buy a phone that is more open.

[−]voakbasda · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:32 UTC · link

> why don't you move to Android?

Because I trust Google even less than Apple (and a de-Googled phone would not be useful to me).

[−]alt227 · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:01 UTC · link

You dont trust Google enough to use their devices, but you use Windows?

[−]SoftTalker · 2026-08-29 Sat 16:43 UTC · link

Wasn't there another iMessage clone for Linux/Android a few years back and they got a C&D from Apple? Or maybe Apple just blocked their service?

[−]aaronax · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:02 UTC · link

Beeper?

[−]SoftTalker · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:06 UTC · link

Yes that sounds right.

[−]ghostly_s · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:38 UTC · link

Yes, I don't see why the author expects anything different to happen this time. I guess there's a new king on the throne.

[−]jnovek · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:22 UTC · link

There’s bluebubbles which runs a server on a Mac and syncs your messages that way.

[−]cromka · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:12 UTC · link

Its derivative OpenBubbles doesn't, though

[−]trollbridge · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:34 UTC · link

As a general rule, Apple will shut down an operator of such service once it gets used to pump out spam.

Of course, every spammer dreams of their spam texts coming through as a blue bubble.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:06 UTC · link

What if there is no operator?

[−]trollbridge · 2026-08-30 Sun 12:55 UTC · link

Someone’s account is sending the messages and will use a particular way to sign in / send the messages. Apple will simply start to ban accounts that match that pattern.

The nice thing about Tether is that it’s read only so won’t be attractive to spammers.

[−]teach · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:58 UTC · link

This is very different from Beeper or BlueBubbles.

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.

[−]alt227 · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:08 UTC · link

As soon as someone starts using this to spam marketing messages over Blue Bubbles Apple will be all over it like a rash.

[−]porridgeraisin · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:26 UTC · link

I use whatsapp primarily, so no tethering needed, but SMS of course for one-time passwords and the like. I didn't want to open my phone for that. So I had a coding agent write an android background app for me that listens for SMS and forwards it to a discord server, and side loaded it. So now I get a discord notif on my laptop with the OTP.

[−]internet_points · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:25 UTC · link

there is also kde connect (or valent for the gnome UI)

[−]dwedge · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:06 UTC · link

WhatsApp has started hiding otps sent to linked devices

[−]Marsymars · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:53 UTC · link

Google Messages also does that, though it seems to be some opt-in setting for the sender, probably related to RCS?

[−]porridgeraisin · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:42 UTC · link

Yep, but I mostly get SMS OTPs. Whatsapp is all the other messages

[−]kvemkon · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:29 UTC · link

Is there an easy way to share iOS clipboard to Linux directly using local WiFi without going through any cloud?

Edit: clarification in my reply later in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492003

[−]cpuguy83 · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:58 UTC · link

"Easy" is subjective, but tether seems like it would do this? There is also kdeconnect (don't let the "KDE" fool you).

[−]kvemkon · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:13 UTC · link

That's what I thought at first but then discovered:

> 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.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:09 UTC · link

It's a project by KDE, but it doesn't require you to use the KDE desktop environment. I'm sure it integrates with that but it doesn't require it.

[−]cassianoleal · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:03 UTC · link

Literally OP does this. It doesn't share it automatically like iOS-to-macOS integration but you open the app, click a button - job done.

[−]bestnameever · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:06 UTC · link

You can use the app that is the subject of this thread:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tether-linux-companion/id67620...

[−]jonathanwallace · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:36 UTC · link

This is incredibly timely as I moved my first choice personal computer to full time linux this week (and am a long time iPhone user who loves the autofill as well). I'll be happily contributing when I find an itch that needs to be scratched.

[−]teo_zero · 2026-08-29 Sat 17:55 UTC · link

This is for iPhones only. Do I assume correctly that the issue is solved for Android, instead?

[−]phrotoma · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:09 UTC · link

Also curious. I keep messages.google.com in a pinned tab but the number of times I have to go find my phone and re-authenticate is too damned high.

[−]bigyabai · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:19 UTC · link

On Android, you can use KDE Connect on KDE and GSConnect on GNOME. It has a Messaging app that syncs with your phone's SMS.

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:08 UTC · link

I don't know the specific ones, but there are android apps that replace Google Messages (dark pattern warning: enabling this makes your previous messages inaccessible as Google Messages won't let you read them unless it's your default SMS app) as well as apps that can send and receive in parallel to Google Messages. I'm not sure if there are also apps that can read your message history out of Google Messages.

[−]Marsymars · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:51 UTC · link

I've been using SMS Backup & Restore (from SyncTech) for years - it reads full history out of Google Messages any time I've used it.

[−]dreamcompiler · 2026-08-30 Sun 13:26 UTC · link

Mightytext does some of this for Android phones: It lets you read and send SMS on your phone from your computer. It also shows notifications from your phone when they happen. It's an app on your phone and a website on your computer.

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??

[−]desireco42 · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:21 UTC · link

I have Google Fi, we always had messages.google.com to even get calls, which I never did. Convenient especially because I write longer messages.

Never felt superiour over others for it.

[−]lxe · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:25 UTC · link

Oh, fantastic, thank you. If this allows me to drop files onto an iPhone without me having to open an app, that would solve a lot of my issues. I use localsend right now and although I really love it, it still requires me to always keep the app open on the phone.

[−]ThinkBeat · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:30 UTC · link

This is all made possible by broker app on the iPhone / (or other device) to send data back and forward. When I first read the headline I thought it would integrate directly into the Apple ecosystem without needing middlemen which would have been crazy impressive since I believe it is or very near entirely impossible.

[−]mmoustafa · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:32 UTC · link

not impossible, pypush did it 3 years ago

[−]randyrand · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:17 UTC · link

Every device requires a random product key issued by apple and they’re not supposed to be reused.

No good way to get around that except buying an Apple device and taking its key.

[−]hollow-moe · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:32 UTC · link

Very nice, I'll say Continuity can absolutely be implemented fully on Linux though ! I think the thing we'd need very first is an actual communication "backbone" that would span bluetooth,wifi-direct and even mesh networks like Tailscale or smth. Continuity is partly based on AWDL, Apple proprietary implementation of Wifi-Direct to allow high speed local inter device communication and allow things like Sidecar with an iPad. Then we could implement protocols over that backbone to implement actual useful applications.

[−]BatchJob · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:36 UTC · link

You cant really complain about the ecosystem if you insist on using an iPhone. What you think is interop is viewed by Apple as hostile and if they could find a way to sue you for it they would.

[−]binkHN · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:40 UTC · link

Fair, but the only other major player here, Google, has not done much better; RCS is still locked up with no API in sight.

[−]blinkingled · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:50 UTC · link

As a KDE Connect user for a few years I know it doesn't always work without reconnecting especially with sleep cycles on the phone and the laptop but it does everything on Android at least - clipboard sync, notifications, sms, calls, remote control and media playback control. Must be iOS restrictions that made the author go through the admirable effort.

IOW Linux ecosystem has better vertical integration without any direct ties with Android :)

[−]xur17 · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:16 UTC · link

Does KDE connect work with other, non KDE window managers?

[−]bygosh · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:30 UTC · link

yes, there's even a GNOME shell extension[0] that implements the KDE Connect protocol without needing the official KDE version.

[0]: https://github.com/GSConnect/gnome-shell-extension-gsconnect

[−]zackb · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:36 UTC · link

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

[−]hparadiz · 2026-08-30 Sun 00:57 UTC · link

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.

[−]J-Kuhn · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:13 UTC · link

It even works on Windows.

[−]dadoum · 2026-08-29 Sat 18:59 UTC · link

Oh, so it requires an app, which isn't even available on older iOS versions… that's such a shame, I wanted to try it out on my iOS 17.0 iPhone. (and I thought it was just using the official Apple ways used for macs, so that's a small disappointment)

[−]harryposner · 2026-08-29 Sat 19:01 UTC · link

The linked blueferry doc is excellent. Back in 2020, inspired by a comment on HN, I looked into writing a proxy to send and receive iMessages on Linux through an iPhone connected with Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP). I was able to send and receive messages, but I ran into the problem mentioned in the doc in the "Group metadata side channel" section: the bMessages in the inbox included the message originator, but didn't include the recipients, even though the MAP standard says that it "shall" be included (see page 22). I didn't know about ANCS, so it didn't occur to me to use that channel, and without any way to tell what context a message was sent in, I couldn't do threading, so I decided it wasn't worth pursuing.

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...

[−]erikwb · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:26 UTC · link

Hey! I made blueferry - the bluetooth connection works great on certain adapters, but ANCS is the wild west. I love that Tether is helping to figure out all the quirks there - I had lots of time a month ago and almost none now.

[−]VladVladikoff · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:16 UTC · link

Whoa this is so much better than having to send it via a BlueBubbles bridge, if this actually works I’m donating! Awesome project!

[−]starik36 · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:23 UTC · link

I am not sure that it is. From what I understand, Tether requires a companion app running on your iPhone. And as such, is subject to being shut down by the OS for various reasons (inactivity, etc...). So sometimes you would have to restart the app.

I use LocalSend and every now and then the connection does not work and I have to restart it on the phone.

[−]rafram · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:19 UTC · link

Does clipboard sync work when the iOS app is in the background?

Pretty cool stuff either way!

[−]zackb · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:25 UTC · link

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

[−]mcswell · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:19 UTC · link

Dependencies: ...wayland-client...

Nuts, I'm on xfce, and don't intend to switch over until it's necessary.

Why is Wayland necessary for this?

[−]pkulak · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:42 UTC · link

I mean... if you wanna keep using xorg, more power to you. But you can't expect developers to keep supporting it. Isn't XFCE moving to Wayland soon anyway?

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:05 UTC · link

We really need a WaylandX, don't we? It shouldn't be that hard to make, since Wayland is a very limited protocol...

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.

[−]weikju · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:24 UTC · link

It exists:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback

[−]inigyou · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:11 UTC · link

Isn't that the opposite? A version of Xwayland?

[−]snazz · 2026-08-29 Sat 23:49 UTC · link

Yes, but (if I understand correctly) it would allow you to use your same X window manager (transparently under Xwayland) and run the odd Wayland application when needed.

[−]weikju · 2026-08-30 Sun 11:22 UTC · link

Hmm yeah I guess I addressed the goal and not the specific thing you mentioned. Oops.

[−]optimisticedits · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:52 UTC · link

X11 support is incoming https://github.com/zackb/tether/issues/65

[−]cpressland · 2026-08-29 Sat 20:19 UTC · link

For me this is the last piece of the puzzle keeping me on macOS. I’ll give it a proper test later and if it works as described I’ll be ordering a Framework 13 Pro.

[−]pkulak · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:04 UTC · link

Sorry if this is obvious, but does it use the same thing OpenBubbles does? What's nice about that is that it just hooks directly into Apple's servers, so doesn't require a connection to your phone or anything.

[−]zackb · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:29 UTC · link

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).

[−]pkulak · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:19 UTC · link

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!

[−]amluto · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:13 UTC · link

What’s the security story behind the iMessage integration? Why is iOS willing to send iMessage data over Bluetooth to a device that hasn’t convinced Apple that it’s a validly authenticated device signed in as the same user?

[−]forestry · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:31 UTC · link

I don’t know the full history but before CarPlay it was used to read and respond to messages using entertainment systems.

[−]dalyons · 2026-08-29 Sat 21:32 UTC · link

Cars probably. My car reads and sends iMessages via Bluetooth.

[−]erikwb · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:15 UTC · link

100%. You have to advertise that you're a car, basically, before the iphone opens the door to messages.

[−]aeon_ai · 2026-08-29 Sat 22:07 UTC · link

Doesn't Tether lack end-to-end encryption, making it less secure for private communications?

[−]zackb · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:05 UTC · link

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

[−]d3Xt3r · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:49 UTC · link

Any possibility of handling phone calls too? Like making and receiving calls. Also, any plans of making Tether itself mobile-UI/UX friendly?

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.

[−]erikwb · 2026-08-30 Sun 02:12 UTC · link

Calls are possible over obex, yeah - see prior art at https://github.com/gabrielmeir53/iphonebridge .

[−]nightsd01 · 2026-08-30 Sun 01:56 UTC · link

> Since then I've done Opus and then Fable bug / security sweeps regularly.

This part surprises me a bit. Fable always falls back to opus for me the instant 'security' is involved (thanks for that, Anthropic)

[−]lisp2240 · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:20 UTC · link

So it’s the Linux equivalent of Phone Link/Link to Windows?

[−]djfergus · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:38 UTC · link

I installed this and spent a reasonable amount of time trying to get it to work. It didn't.

* 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.

[−]nacs · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:42 UTC · link

I ran into similar issues on a mostly stock Ubuntu 24.

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.

[−]nacs · 2026-08-30 Sun 14:13 UTC · link

I gave it another go with the hint above about the tetherd log:

  tail -f ~/.local/state/tether/tetherd.log

I killed that persistent process (sudo killall), rm /run/user/1000/tether/tetherd.* (to clear the lock file), restarted tetherd after pairing to phone via Linux bluetooth settings.

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.

[−]zackb · 2026-08-30 Sun 03:50 UTC · link

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.

[−]Jordan-117 · 2026-08-30 Sun 08:15 UTC · link

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).

[−]LooseMarmoset · 2026-08-30 Sun 04:23 UTC · link

This guy did a nice thing for people, let's keep it positive.

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?

[−]nisiddharth · 2026-08-30 Sun 06:10 UTC · link

The website is so hard to read for me. The font weight should be more :(

[−]atmosx · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:13 UTC · link

Hm. I wonder how much effort it would be to add this to BSDs.

[−]rmnclmnt · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:22 UTC · link

Isn’t iphonebridge[0] doing the same but without browser extensions? (Haven’t used neither but been looking for such solution in the past)

[0]: https://github.com/gabrielmeir53/iphonebridge

[−]butokai · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:32 UTC · link

There’s also the old work on owlink and opendrop https://github.com/seemoo-lab/opendrop, which reimplement apple’s version of WiFi direct and use it to have a Linux implementation of AirDrop. I guess Continuity’s functionality are based on this as well.

[−]butokai · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:35 UTC · link

Of course kudos to the author. But I am pretty sure that the availability of iMessage and notifications over Bluetooth starting from iOS 26.5 is a direct result of the EU’s policies for smartwatch interoperability, so… kudos to the EU as well!

[−]LtWorf · 2026-08-30 Sun 12:42 UTC · link

> kudos to the EU as well!

I never expected to read such a statement on this website.

[−]delis-thumbs-7e · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:58 UTC · link

> No AirPlay kinda sucked

There’s shairport-sync, which works pretty well: https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync

[−]ErneX · 2026-08-30 Sun 09:06 UTC · link

Exactly, I have a raspberry dedicated as music player with piCore and AirPlay works perfectly.