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Andy Holmes edited this page Aug 18, 2020 · 60 revisions

Connecting an Android device

  1. Install KDE Connect Android from Google Play or F-droid

  2. Install GSconnect and Uninstall KDE connect on your desktop.

  3. Open the Android App and GSConnect Preferences

    GSConnect & KDE Connect Android

  4. Click Refresh in GSConnect preferences or the Android app

    Service Preferences

If you can't find your phone in the devices list, try connecting with an IP address:

Or from within GSConnect:

Connect to...

If that doesn't work, check your Firewall, Proxy, Router and VPN settings and open ports 1716-1764 for TCP and UDP and allow broadcasts.

If you are still having trouble connecting, make sure once more that KDEConnect is uninstalled on your desktop. If it's installed, make sure it's not running by running:

$ killall -9 kdeconnectd

It's possible that another process is using the necessary 1716 port. Check if there are such processes with:

$ lsof -i :1716
COMMAND     PID   USER   FD   TYPE  DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kdeconnec 18839 andrew   19u  IPv6 2394913      0t0  UDP *:1716

The safest way to ensure kdeconnectd (Desktop KDEConnect) is not running, is to uninstall it from your system. Users have reported in the past that GSConnect fails to find devices even when kdeconnectd wasn't running but installed.

If you still experience issues, read our [Uncommon Problems][#uncommon-problems]. If that doesn't help, you can always open a New Issue. For that, we'd like you to generate a support log to attach to the new issue.

Generate Support Log

When a problem requires detailed information to debug, you may use the built-in function for generating a support log. The log will contain information about your desktop, GSConnect and detailed debugging messages.

Generate Support Log

  1. Select Generate Support Log in the menu

    A dialog will open and debug information will start being logged. Do not close the dialog yet.

  2. Take any steps necessary to reproduce the problem

    This is the most important step. You must use the functionality which is not working. For example, if you are having trouble connecting devices you must activate the Refresh action for both devices or errors will not be logged.

    Any errors or debug messages will be recorded during this period. You must leave the dialog open as long as necessary to reproduce the problem.

  3. Select Review Log in the dialog

    The default text editor will now open, allowing you to review the log. You should remove or censor any information you consider private before submitting this log.

File and Settings

WARNING: Clearing the settings in GSConnect or the KDE Connect Android App will rarely solve problems. It is far more likely that you will cause problems by doing so.

Where are the files and settings?

Cached data is stored in the user cache directory under gsconnect; usually ~/.cache/gsconnect/.

~/.cache/gsconnect/contacts.json
~/.cache/gsconnect/7b2c8d552e9043232d1466e28af55367

Cached data specific to a device is stored in a sub-directory. Plugin data is also stored in memory when in use, so you must disable a plugin before deleting its cache.

~/.cache/gsconnect/<device-id>/<plugin-name>.json
~/.cache/gsconnect/<device-id>/8ae5f579bd08e1167274e88aa79b37ea

Most settings are stored using GSettings and you can access it with dconf-editor at the path:

/org/gnome/shell/extensions/gsconnect/

The service certificate and private key are stored at the path

~/.config/gsconnect

How can I reset the settings?

To completely remove a device and all its settings, open the device preferences for that device and select Unpair from the menu. The device's stored data will be deleted, either immediately or (in the case of a connected device) when the connection is closed.

To completely remove GSConnect, all files and settings run following commands in order from the command-line:

gnome-extensions uninstall [email protected]
rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]
rm -rf ~/.cache/gsconnect
rm -rf ~/.config/gsconnect
dconf reset -f /org/gnome/shell/extensions/gsconnect/

Common Problems

Contacts Don't Sync

Some phone models or apps seem to have trouble exporting contacts. Please see Issue #277 for more information.

There are two ways to sync your contacts, but neither are required. If you would like to sync your contacts from Gnome Online Accounts or Evolution, please see Desktop Contacts in the Optional Dependencies section. You should disable the Contacts plugin for any devices that you want to fallback to desktop contacts.

If either of these methods fail, GSConnect will try to gather contact information from incoming phone calls and messages.

SMS Messages Don't Sync

Some phone models (especially Samsung) and SMS apps (especially Signal) either don't use the standard Android database, encrypt messages or use proprietary methods for storage and access. Please see Issue #320 and KDE Connect Bug #401677 for more information.

Phones Reported

  • Samsung Galaxy S6, S7, S8
  • Motorola G6
  • Nokia 7 Plus
  • Huawei P10 Lite

Apps Reported

  • Samsung Messages
  • Signal

Mount Doesn't Work

  1. First see Generate Support Log

    If there are errors in the log related to mounting you should open a New Issue

  2. Set a location in the Android App

    You must configure at least on storage location in the Filesystem expose settings.

  3. Force Quit the Android App

    Sometimes the SFTP server in the Android App gets stuck after a number of connections. Force quitting the App from the App Info screen and re-opening it has been know to fix this.

  4. Debug the Android App

    If there are no mounting errors in the log, you have configured a storage location in the app and restarted the Android App there may be a bug in the App. Assuming you have adb setup you can run the following command in a terminal:

    adb logcat --pid=$(adb shell pidof -s org.kde.kdeconnect_tp)

    If there is an error in the Android logcat, you should open a bug at bugs.kde.org in the android-application component.

Remote Input Doesn't Work

As of v28, Remote Input is only supported on X11 and Wayland with Mutter's RemoteDesktop interface.

The following distributions DO NOT support Remote Input on Wayland:

  • Debian (with GNOME 3.36)
  • Ubuntu (all versions)

This is not a bug in GSConnect.

Remote Keyboard Not Active

NOTE: Due to an ambiguity in the protocol, the remote device will still report the keyboard as inactive when the "Handle remote keys only when editing" preference is disabled. This message can be ignored in that case (See #892).

In order to send keyboard events to a remote device it must report that the keyboard is active. If the remote device is an Android device you must follow these steps:

  • Enable the Receive remote keypresses plugin in the Android app
  • Enable the KDE Connect Remote Keyboard virtual keyboard in Android settings
  • Change the current keyboard to KDE Connect Remote Keyboard
  • Select a text entry or disable the option Handle remote keys only when editing in the plugin's settings

Waiting for Service

If the Preferences window displays the message Waiting for service..., there are a few possible causes:

  1. The GSConnect service is turned off

    • Open the User Menu in the top-right of the screen
    • Open the Mobile Settings submenu
    • Select the Turn On item

  2. User Extensions are disabled in GNOME Shell

    Occasionally when an extension encounters a fatal error or causes GNOME Shell to crash, all User Extensions will be automatically disabled. You can re-enable them in GNOME Tweaks or with the command:

    $ dconf write /org/gnome/shell/disable-user-extensions false

  3. The DBus service is not launching

    • Try running the following command in a terminal: 
      $ gapplication launch org.gnome.Shell.Extensions.GSConnect
    • If that command returns an error message similar to the following:

      error sending Activate message to application: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable

    • Restart the session DBus: 
      $ systemctl --user reload dbus-broker.service

If all else fails, try restarting Gnome Shell (e.g. logout then login)

Uncommon Problems

Interference with Other Equipment

Some users have reported that KDE Connect broadcasts (UDP Port 1716) can interfere with some equipment. The cause is unknown, but seems to only affect very very network connected devices such as PLCs and WiFi repeaters.

Firewall or iptables blocking port

Some users have reported that even when port 1714 to 1764 are open on firewall, iptables still need to be configured to allow connection. If that is the case, execute following commands in terminal

sudo iptables -I INPUT -i <your-interface> -p udp --dport 1714:1764 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT -i <your-interface> -p tcp --dport 1714:1764 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A OUTPUT -o <your-interface> -p tcp --sport 1714:1764 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A OUTPUT -o <your-interface> -p udp --sport 1714:1764 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

Where <your-interface> is your interface name without brackets, It is first name on nmcli or can be found using ifconfig -a or with inet addr or your network settings in GUI. Note: iptables is not persistent by itself, use iptables-save and iptables-restore (or iptables-persistent on debian/ubuntu based os) to save your rules between reboots.

Further information regarding similar issues can be found on KDEConnect comunity wiki

Detected Problems

These problems are automatically detected by GSConnect. Do not edit this section.

Network Error

GSConnect requires ports 1716-1764 for TCP and UDP. This error means another program is using those ports, usually KDE Connect (kdeconnectd).

  1. Check if KDE Connect is running

    If you have recently uninstalled KDE Connect the server may still be running.

    $ pidof kdeconnectd
18839
$ lsof -i UDP:1716
COMMAND     PID   USER   FD   TYPE  DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kdeconnec 18839 andrew   19u  IPv6 2394913      0t0  UDP *:1716

  2. Stop KDE Connect (kdeconnectd) if it is running

    You should also uninstall KDE Connect, since it will start each time you log into your session.

    $ killall -9 kdeconnectd

PulseAudio Error

GSConnect uses the PulseAudio bindings shipped with Gnome Shell for volume control features. This error means that GSConnect failed to find the required typelib (Gvc-1.0.typelib).

If you installed GSConnect from https://extensions.gnome.org or Zip file, please open a New Issue including your distribution and output of locate Gvc-1.0.typelib.

If you installed GSConnect from a distribution package, please file a bug with the package maintainer and reference the Packaging page.

OpenSSL not found

GSConnect uses the openssl command-line tool to generate TLS certificates and RSA keys. This error means GSConnect could not find OpenSSL, which usually happens for Fedora Silverblue users.

Fedora Silverblue users have reported this can be installed with the following commands:

$ sudo rpm-ostree install openssl
$ sudo systemctl reboot
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