this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2026
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Best way to transfer files and messages between Android phone and linux laptop locally (no cloud)? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 days ago by Osm@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/55097116

Hi everyone,

I currently use Telegram to send photos, PDFs and text messages between my Android phone and my Debian laptop. It works, but everything goes through a third-party server, and I would like a fully local, privacy-friendly alternative.

What I need: Send photos, PDFs and other files in both directions (phone ↔ laptop) Send short text messages or clipboard content Works locally

Thanks for any advice and experience!

top 16 comments
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[–] dihutenosa@piefed.social 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

KDE Connect, for clipboard sync.
SyncThing for my own machines.
LocalSend for others.

[–] hololive@ani.social 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Is Syncthing on android still trustworthy? The main developers abandoned the project, now it's a 3rd party that maintains the fork. I know it's open sourced, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's safe now.

[–] squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi 5 points 4 days ago

Try BasicSync on Android. It's trustworthy as far as I know.

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I sure hope so, been using the fork since before the official one was abandoned due to some improvements in the fork that saved battery life. But I guess no way to know in a small FOSS project?

[–] Greg@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

LocalSend?

[–] Junkers_Klunker@feddit.dk 4 points 5 days ago

Second that. I use it multiple times a day, and have yet to run into any problems.

[–] gera@feddit.nu 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

adb push / adb pull

I have scripts for common stuff like my music dir:

adb push --sync ~/music/{collection,unsorted,audiobooks} /sdcard/Music/

I only ever do sync in one direction tho, from computer to phone.

[–] jay@pie.zerojay.com 4 points 5 days ago

LocalSend. Quick and easy to set up, just be sure to unblock the ports needed if you have a firewall running.

[–] trojanbark@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

I run syncthing in the background to a folder in nextcloud, but when I need something instantly i use localsend

[–] qmv0y2923xtkk2cy@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago

Syncthing

[–] Limeade3425@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago

If it's the occasional file, I really enjoy kdeconnect

[–] heyeddi@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

KDE Connect if you're on Plasma, Syncthing for anything ongoing, and LocalSend for one-off files. All three stay on the LAN. I'd skip anything that wants an account.

[–] VanRado@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

There is GS Connect it you're on Gnome.

[–] MrWrinkles@leminal.space 2 points 5 days ago

I still use Bluetooth Share. For some reason it never works on Linux until I systemctl --user enable bluetooth.service? (obexd something something) Doesn't need a WiFi connection and works with my company laptop.

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

I use Syncthing but a USB-C thumb drive will do the trick.

Here are a couple of sources that should help.

https://www.howtogeek.com/keep-linux-pc-and-android-phone-synced-with-gsconnect/

https://linuxiac.com/how-to-set-up-and-use-syncthing-to-sync-files/

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago

I use FX.