Sometime i want to send small messages between devices, such as a url, a note, a id, a token, a piece of code, a picture Especially send between phone and laptop.
Some chatting app have self messages such as telegram saved messages, slack (you), Microsoft team…
However i don’t want a bloated chat app that would took few hundred mb on phone, or required to install an app on my pc (linux which make many app broken). I don’t want work chat app too, because self messages can be seen and scanned by employer (yes, a security add on chatbot on slack warm me because i send something like password to myself on slack)
Something like Opera Flow would fit perfectly, but i don’t want opera browser.
If you use a web email account, just create a draft email and don’t send it. Then log into your email account on the other device and read it there.
This is the poor man’s tech work-around and can indeed confirm it works lol. You are limited by your services upload size though so beware, you might find yourself having to do multiples and then it’s just starting to get inconvenient.
SSH over Tailscale to Termux (all three free) using private-key authentication — two levels of e2ee, and fairly easy to use.
For small bits of text, I use one of these, depending on the direction and the source device:
- Laptop → phone:
xclip -o | ssh phone termux-clipboard-set
- Laptop ← phone:
ssh phone termux-clipboard-get | xclip
- Phone → laptop:
termux-clipboard-get | ssh laptop DISPLAY=:0 xclip
- Phone ← laptop:
ssh laptop DISPLAY=:0 xclip -o | termux-clipboard-set
For larger things, or files, I use
scp
. For other devices that I haven’t setup beforehand, or can’t set up (e.g. can’t run arbitrary programs), I connect to my phone’s hotspot, and use Total Commander’s Wi-Fi transfer addon for files (both of which are also free). Small strings I just copy over by eye and hope it goes well.- Laptop → phone:
I use either KDE Connect (/gnome connect), or firefox
Idk why this is so low. Kdeconnect is all about sharing information between devices, url/file even notifications. It also has remote control and ping devices.
Try this small web app I made exactly for this https://kapus.app
Depending on what your are doing kde connect and/or sync thing
Linux pc + android phone - use Syncthing
Linux pc + iPhone - use KDE connect (or GSConnect for GNOME)
Kdeconnect/gsconnect is also on Android
Yes, they are on android but I prefer syncthing over KDEconnect/GConnect, mostly due to the issues I had when trying to use it over vpn.
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That’s true, but there are some decent forks.
I use the note to self capability of my XMPP server to send a message to myself for these sort of one-offs. I would never want my data in the hands of some proprietary service if I have the option—sharing data just to yourself on these services also means it is Big Tech’s data now too. All of the XMPP clients are super lightweight.
Bigger cases, I will use scp, rsync, or magic wormhole. Or just using removeable storage.
QR code reader and generator on both phone and laptop
- Phone: SecScanQR
- Laptop: ZBarCam and Zint
But I’m glad to have learned about LocalSend here so I’m no longer limited to short text snippets
I just use my note taking app
Syncthing.
Notes in Google Keep will sync between mobile and web
I just send an email to myself. sounds like it’s something you wouldn’t be allowed to do but you can
I usually just use an email draft for cross platform transfers. MacOS/iOS handle this pretty much automatically and Linux has a good option (KDE Connect) but it sounds like you’re on Windows.
Does Phone Link (built into Windows) work for your needs? I don’t use Windows often but I know they’re trying to make something sort of like the other OS’s syncing systems. Not sure how good it is.
Last I checked, KDE Connect can be installed on Windows as well. It’s not locked into the KDE ecosystem or even Linux.
All the listed options are nice but if you are looking for something more portable and doesn’t require any installing, I recommend PairDrop.
For sending over small stuff, I usually generate a qr code and scan it with the other device.