Connecting to an Android phone with KDE connect outside of a common network

[9a3eedi]

Hello,

I wanted to ask if there is any way I can have my laptop connect to my Android phone with KDE connect, when both computers are not on a common network. As far as I know, KDE connect only works if they’re both connected to the same local network. But in many cases this is not possible (e.g. when sitting in a coffee shop, or when the phone is far away from the laptop, or when there’s no wifi/lan network in the first place).

I tried to connect my phone to my laptop via Bluetooth, but this doesn’t seem to be possible, the phone would simply disconnect. I’m not sure if this is a problem with my phone (Xperia 5 II) or if this is a design limitation of Android.

Are there any other methods? Is it better if I post this in the KDE forum?

Usually with other similar systems on Windows and Mac, this is possible, but only because there’s a server as a middleman. Understandably this isn’t possible with KDE for numerous privacy issues among other things, but I’m thinking maybe there’s another way forward.

[Mirdarthos]

Hi @9a3eedi,

I understand what you mean. I think. And I really, really don’t know, as I’ve never done something like this. I’m more than happy with my desktop, so don’t use multiple networks.

That said, I know network-devices connect to each other, to communicate using IP addresses. And I don’t think these are, or can be the same between the Hotspots. So I don’t think this can be done easily. The only way I can think of is using domain names instead of IP addresses…

[anon89812132]

Have you tried this KDEConnect - KDE UserBase Wiki ?

[9a3eedi]

I haven’t tried it. I guess it would work, although this doesn’t seem like a very elegent solution. But I guess there’s no other solution since this is what the KDE wiki provides as a solution.