You can control your Linux PC from your Android phone – here’s how
You can control your Linux PC from your Android phone – here’s how
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-control-linux-pc-from-your-android-phone-kde-connect/
Publish Date: 2026-02-20 16:06:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- KDE Connect allows you to do many things.
- With this remote app, you can send commands to Linux.
- There’s no limit to what you can do with this feature.
Smartphones and desktop/laptop connections have been helping people for years. A lot of times, it’s nothing more than keeping things in sync. You might want to keep your contacts manageable in both places. You might want/need to transfer files from on to the other (and/or vice versa).
Smartphone-to-PC connections have been helping people for years. Many times, the benefit is nothing more than keeping things in sync. Perhaps you want to keep your contacts manageable in both places. Or you might need to transfer files from one device to the other.
Also: 3 ways to switch Linux distros without losing all your data
Or maybe — you want to control your Linux desktop from your Android phone. All the cool kids are doing it, and I’m going to show you how it’s done.
What can you do with this feature?
Using the KDE Connect app on your Android device and the KDE Connect app on your desktop, you can send commands from your phone to do certain things.
For example, you may have stepped away from your computer and realized you forgot to lock it. Or maybe you need to shut down the computer, open an app, print something, or play a media file. In fact, what you can do is limited only by your imagination.
Also: I replaced Windows with Linux, and there’s only one feature I miss
KDE Connect can come in very handy. Let me show you how to create your first commands to control your Linux PC from Android.
Creating your first command
What you’ll need: The only things you’ll need for this are KDE Connect installed on both your Android phone and your desktop. Do be aware that, if you don’t use the KDE Plasma desktop, installing KDE Connect will also install a ton of dependencies.
You can find the Android app in the Google Play Store.
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