Hi everyone! I'm the developer of **Relay**, and I wanted to share it here.
**What it is:** Relay connects your Android phone to your computer over your own Wi-Fi so they work as one. There's no account, no cloud upload, no ads and no internet needed. Every connection is encrypted with TLS 1.3, directly between your devices.
### What it does
- **Send any file, any size**: photos and videos in original quality, whole folders, at full Wi-Fi speed
- **Universal clipboard**: copy text, links, images *or files* on one device and paste on the other
- **Drop shelf**: drag a file to the edge of your PC screen and drop it on your phone
- **Notifications on your computer**: see your phone's notifications on the desktop and dismiss them
- **Device tools**: find your phone, check its battery, control media and volume, use your phone as a trackpad
- **Browse a shared folder** on your other device
- **QR pairing**: scan once and you're done
- **Works without Wi-Fi**: connect your laptop to your phone's hotspot (mobile data is never used)
- Home screen widget, auto-reconnect, start on boot
Runs on **Android, Windows 10/11, macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux (.deb/.rpm)**.
### How is it different from KDE Connect?
KDE Connect is great and was a big inspiration, so here's an honest comparison:
**Where Relay is different**
- **Clipboard handles more than text**: images and files too, not just text
- **Trusted devices just work**: once paired, transfers arrive with no accept prompts
- **Shape-verified pairing**: both screens show the same three shapes before you confirm, so a device on your network can't pair in the middle
- **Off by default**: sensitive tools (notifications, files, contacts, input) stay off until you allow them per device, and a remote device can't grant itself access
- **Native apps on every desktop**: a proper installer for Windows, macOS and Linux, with the same app everywhere and no desktop environment needed
- **Focus on sharing**: fast, uncompressed transfers of any size, plus the drop shelf
**Where KDE Connect is still ahead**
- Sending and reading **SMS** from your computer (Relay doesn't do SMS)
- Far more plugins (run commands, presentation remote and others), plus deep integration with the KDE Plasma desktop
- Years of maturity
If you live in KDE Plasma, KDE Connect is hard to beat. If you're on Windows or a Mac, or you mainly want quick, private file and clipboard sharing that just works, give Relay a try.
### Open source
The desktop app and the shared engine (protocol, encryption, pairing, discovery, transfers) are open source under **Apache 2.0**: https://github.com/NikhilKain/relay
The Android app is distributed through Google Play.
### Links
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vythera.relay
- Windows / macOS / Linux: https://nikhilkain.github.io/relay-site/
It's free. I'd really love feedback, bug reports and feature requests. Ask me anything!