The story began when I was looking for a new app to mirror phone notifications to my desktop. I used to rely on PushBullet, but its Chrome extension stopped seeing support, and Google eventually disabled it entirely.

This is the point where I'd reach for Windows' Phone Link app...but I was neck-deep in Fedora KDE Plasma (and still am), so that was out of the question. After conducting some research, I noticed that people often recommended KDE Connect, which was convenient because it came pre-installed with Fedora KDE Plasma. So I gave it a go, and, well...I love it a lot more than Microsoft's Phone Link, to the point where I don't think I can ever return to the Windows-based phone mirroring app anymore.

KDE Connect fills the gap that Phone Link left...

I was very surprised at what it could do

Setting up KDE Connect was relatively straightforward and didn't require creating an account. I opened KDE Connect on my PC and then downloaded the app to my Android phone. I paired them up via a method that seems to use your network Wi-Fi to match them up.

Once it was paired up, I could use the app on my phone to refine which apps sent notifications and the general behavior of KDE Connect. I noticed it didn't have all the features of Phone Link; for instance, there was no phone screen mirroring, and I couldn't make calls with KDE Connect, although I could set it up so it would make a phone call sound on my PC when someone called me on my phone.

Otherwise, it did the trick. I could get notifications from my phone on my PC, and I could drag and drop files from my PC onto my phone.

...but it also does things that Phone Link doesn't

I was also very surprised at what it excelled at

KDE Connect did what I wanted, but I began to get really impressed when I began prodding around the app. I discovered a feature that turns your phone's screen into a digital trackpad, so you can move your mouse around remotely. Given how I like to chill on my sofa and watch stuff on my monitor away from my keyboard and mouse, I loved how I could take control of my cursor using the KDE Connect to click on things.

Then, KDE Connect proved that it could do something that my old app, PushBullet, could also do: send and receive stuff via my browser. All I had to do was install the Plasma Integration extension on Chrome; once done, I could right-click pages, links, and even images, then hover over "Plasma Integration" in the right-click menu and select the device I wanted to send it to.

And the best bit? While Windows Phone Link only works on Windows, KDE Connect can work on pretty much every commonly used operating system, including Windows. Given that I dual-boot Linux and Windows, having one app cover both bases feels great.

There are some features I haven't even tried yet

There's a lot to love about KDE Connect

That being said, I still haven't used every single feature in KDE Connect. I've only used it for about a month now, and it's doing everything I want it to; however, it's good to know that, if a new use case crops up in the future, KDE Connect can cover it.

For instance, you can set up commands on your PC that you can trigger on your phone via KDE Connect. You have to set up the commands on the desktop app, presumably to prevent someone from stealing your phone and using it to create and activate stealth commands, but the payoff is well worth it. I used one of the example commands on the wiki linked above to create a script that, when activated from my phone, took a photo from my webcam, saved it to my PC, and then sent the image to my phone. If you use KDE Connect on Windows, you can use it to run PowerShell commands.

Additionally, I've heard that some people prefer to install KDE Connect on their Steam Deck. That way, you can share images and files between your Deck and your PC with ease. I haven't given this feature a try, but it goes to show how you can go beyond a PC and a phone with KDE Connect.

Linux does a lot right for me

The more I use Linux, the more I see it as less of a Windows alternative and more of a replacement. KDE Connect has really blown me away, and I can't wait to see what else Linux has in store.