You can control your Linux PC from your Android phone - here's how

Source: ZDNet

Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• KDE Connect lets you do many things, from sending commands to your Linux machine to syncing data.
• The remote‑app feature lets you control your Linux desktop from an Android phone.
• There’s essentially no limit to what you can achieve with KDE Connect.

Smartphone‑to‑PC connections have been helping people for years, often simply keeping contacts, files, and other data in sync across devices. With KDE Connect you can also:

• Transfer files between your phone and computer.
• Share the clipboard, notifications, and media playback controls.
• Use your phone as a remote control for presentations or media.

Also: 3 ways to switch Linux distros without losing all your data

Maybe you want to control your Linux desktop from your Android phone? All the cool kids are doing it—here’s how you can get started.

What can you do with this feature?

Using the KDE Connect app on your Android device (paired with the KDE Connect app on your desktop), you can send commands from your phone to control your Linux PC.

Typical use‑cases include:

• Locking the screen when you step away
• Shutting down or rebooting the computer
• Launching an application
• Printing a document
• Playing a media file

In short, 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 be incredibly handy. Let’s walk through creating your first commands to control your Linux PC from Android.

Creating Your First Command

What you’ll need

• KDE Connect installed on both your Android phone and your desktop.
  • Note: If you’re not using the KDE Plasma desktop, installing KDE Connect will pull in many additional dependencies.
• The Android app is available on the Google Play Store.

You can connect your devices via Bluetooth or a wireless network. The wireless route generally offers more range and reliability.

Pairing the Devices

1. Open the KDE Connect sidebar on the Android app.
2. Tap Pair new device.
3. Follow the on‑screen prompts (the process is straightforward).

Tip: If the devices don’t see each other, you may need to adjust or temporarily disable your firewall.

Running Commands from KDE Connect

1. Open KDE Connect on your phone and tap Run Command.
2. The corresponding KDE Connect window will appear on your desktop/laptop.

[Image: KDE Connect – Run Command window]
Screenshot by Jack Wallen / ZDNET

In the Run commands window:

1. Click Add command (top‑right).
2. In the dialog that appears:
   • Name: Give the command a descriptive name.
   • Command: Enter the command you want to execute, or choose one from the drop‑down list of pre‑defined commands.

[Image: KDE Connect – Add command dialog]
Screenshot by Jack Wallen / ZDNET

Example: Locking Your Desktop

• Name: Lock screen
• Command: loginctl lock-session

Click Add, and the command is ready to use.

Also: Check out the article “My 5 favorite Linux distros that are ready to use out of the box (no setup required)”.

Using Your New Command

Using your newly created command is easy. Open KDE Connect on your phone, tap Run Command, then select the command you just added from the list. Your desktop should lock immediately.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen / ZDNET

Cool, eh?

Also: This is my favorite Linux distro of all time – and I’ve tried them all

Other commands you might add

• Shutdown – systemctl poweroff
• Reboot – systemctl reboot
• Suspend – systemctl suspend
• Unlock screen – loginctl unlock-screen

A fun “screen‑to‑phone” command

You can create a command that takes a screenshot of your desktop and automatically sends it to your phone. Name the command screen to phone and use the following line:

file=/tmp/$(hostname)_$(date "+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S").png
spectacle -bo "${file}" && \
while ! [ -f "${file}" ]; do sleep 0.5; done && \
kdeconnect-cli -d $(kdeconnect-cli -a --id-only) --share "${file}"

The command above relies on the Spectacle screenshot tool. If you don’t have Spectacle installed, either install it or modify the command to use another screenshot utility.

Also: I’m a command‑line pro and this is the best terminal app I’ve ever used, thanks to AI

KDE Connect is a handy tool for controlling your Linux machine remotely. I highly recommend giving the app a try and creating some useful custom commands of your own.