Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux

(zackbartel.com)

89 points | by zackb 5 days ago

8 comments

  • pzmarzly 1 hour ago
    > 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.

    • voakbasda 1 hour ago
      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 33 minutes ago
        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.

        • kian 19 minutes ago
          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 4 minutes ago
          I saw someone smile at the park the other day, do you think you could talk to them for me?
        • kaonwarb 26 minutes ago
          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 21 minutes ago
            It's things like this that rob my of my hope for the world.
        • rewgs 25 minutes ago
          You are indeed being a Debbie Downer.
    • kees99 1 hour ago
      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.

      • LinuxIsntVeryGo 1 hour ago
        Copyleft licenses are freedom-negative, so MIT covers it pretty well: do what you want.
        • b40d-48b2-979e 42 minutes ago
          Those poor multi-trillion dollar companies that can't use copyleft projects, whatever will they do?
  • voakbasda 1 hour ago
    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.

    • timcobb 26 minutes ago
      Pixel is nice, in my opinion better than iOS, and more open for now
    • abcd_f 1 hour ago
      Have a look at https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice and iOS backup projects that are based on it.
    • sneak 29 minutes ago
      You could stop using iMessage and iCloud.
      • Rohansi 6 minutes ago
        Green bubbles, WhatsApp, Signal, etc. are not an option for a lot of people. I don't get it either.
        • agoodusername63 2 minutes ago
          Because techies on average aren't socially popular enough to get anybody to make any effort to msg them on a better platform.
    • LinuxIsntVeryGo 1 hour ago
      Why do you think Apple should be compelled to provide software for operating systems without a sizable audience? Why do you feel entitled to support for Linux?
      • voakbasda 59 minutes ago
        Because they provide a platform. Platforms are not normal products. Once a product becomes a platform, the rules should change to force interoperability. This should be true no matter the product or technology.
      • SadTrombone 42 minutes ago
        Nobody's asking Apple to provide anything. We just want them to stop sending cease and desists to developers who do provide said thing.
      • cassianoleal 1 hour ago
        They don't have to add support. All they need is APIs and documentation.
        • LinuxIsntVeryGo 1 hour ago
          That's effectively the same thing.
          • cassianoleal 40 minutes ago
            No it's not.
            • jonhohle 6 minutes ago
              Do you think it costs nothing to provide stable APIs and write documentation?
  • jonathanwallace 19 minutes ago
    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.
  • kvemkon 26 minutes ago
    Is there an easy way to share iOS clipboard to Linux directly using local WiFi without going through any cloud?
  • SoftTalker 1 hour ago
    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?
    • jnovek 34 minutes ago
      There’s bluebubbles which runs a server on a Mac and syncs your messages that way.
    • aaronax 53 minutes ago
      Beeper?
  • porridgeraisin 29 minutes ago
    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.
  • select1 1 hour ago
    [dead]
  • 2Gkashmiri 1 hour ago
    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?

    • cassianoleal 1 hour ago
      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?

    • Gualdrapo 35 minutes ago
      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.

    • alex7o 44 minutes ago
      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
    • utopiah 1 hour ago
      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.
    • tamimio 1 hour ago
      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!