KDE

kdeconnect-ios

Swift2022–2026

KDE / kdeconnect-ios

kdeconnect-ios

Native iOS port of KDE Connect

Mobile & Desktop

Explore on GitHub Read Hacker News discussions

5Distinct people

6Mentions

0Explicit recommenders

428GitHub stars

REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Native iOS port of KDE Connect

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year6 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2022-05-15 00:17:30 UTC to 2026-01-01 22:57:46 UTC.

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges

UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Comments
2022	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2	2
2023	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
2024	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
2025	2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	3	3
2026 (partial)	2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1

What Hacker News says

6 sources

Rohansi·Jan 1, 2026

> KDE Connect cannot remain active while the application is not in the foreground. Looks like you can thank Apple for that one. https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios?tab=readme-ov-file#kno...

In iOS allows alternative browser engines in Japan

CaptainOfCoit·Oct 22, 2025

No, it doesn't, and again, the repository (https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios) makes that clear and also why.

In KDE Connect: Enabling communication between all your devices

CaptainOfCoit·Oct 21, 2025

I remember getting excited about KDE Connect but then being completely disappointed that it basically non-functional on iOS... As I remember it (tried it last year I think), the application needs to be in the foreground in order to do anything at all, because of Apple's (purposeful) limitations of doing things in the background. So if you were hoping to be able to install this and sync stuff without effort and having to leave the app open all the time, Apple seems to be vehemently against anything like that, probably because they have their own solutions for this... Edit: The GitHub repository actually goes through the Apple-induced problem: > iOS is very much designed around foreground interactions. Therefore, background “daemon-style” applications don’t really exist under conventional means, so the behavior where KDE Connect iOS is unre

Read the rest

sponsive in the background is more or less intended. There are technically some special categories and "hacky" methods to try to get it to run in the background, but in general, there is no intended/by-design method of keeping a "daemon-style" app running forever in the background. For more information, see this post on the Apple Dev Forums https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios

In KDE Connect: Enabling communication between all your devices

drdaeman·Jun 29, 2025

On iOS? Last time I've checked, kdeconnect-ios was unable to read any third-party notifications, not to mention doing anything to them or modifying their text or appearance in any way. Project readme still says "Notification syncing doesn't work because iOS applications can't access notifications of other apps" (https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios?tab=readme-ov-file#kno...) so I think it's still a thing.

In More on Apple's Trust-Eroding 'F1 the Movie' Wallet Ad

vhanda·Jun 29, 2022

GPL seems to be incompatible with the iOS store as that places some extra restrictions on it. [0] [1]. Some GPL apps such as KDE Connect have a special exception in their license for the ios App Store. [2] [0] https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/9500/is-apple... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12827624 [2] https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios/blob/master/License.md

In GitJournal: Mobile first Markdown notes synchronized with Git

dustyharddrive·May 15, 2022

They acknowledge the GPL conflict in the license file (https://github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-ios/blob/master/License.md): > … we have committed not to pursue any license violation that results solely from the conflict between the GNU GPLv3 and the Apple App Store terms of service, including the FOSS-specific policies as outlined in sections 3.3.22, 5.1, and 9.1

In KDE Connect Now Available on iOS