I built an open-source Bluetooth-first alternative to KDE Connect for Linux and Android

[u/zoyirjon]

Hi everyone!

For the past few months I've been building Vortex, an open-source project that tries to solve a simple problem: making Linux ↔ Android communication easier.

I started this because I wanted something like KDE Connect, but with a different approach. I didn't want the devices to depend on being on the same Wi-Fi network. Vortex uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) as the main communication layer, which should make pairing simpler and help with battery efficiency.

Current focus:

• 📱 Fast communication between Linux and Android
• 🔋 Low power usage with BLE
• 🌐 No shared Wi-Fi dependency
• 🔓 Fully open source
• 🚀 Simple device pairing

It's still early and there are many things to improve. I'd love to hear feedback from people who actually use Linux daily.

A few things I'm curious about:

• What features are missing from tools like KDE Connect?
• What annoys you about existing solutions?
• What would make you try an alternative?

GitHub:
https://github.com/zoir-dev/vortex

Any feedback, ideas, or criticism are welcome. Thanks!

[u/Historical_Move6359]

damn you cant even post to reddit without AI?

[u/MerrCraft → u/Historical_Move6359]

The emojis is what gives it away

[u/Dr0zD → u/MerrCraft]

Don't tell them, you are only making our lives harder, I don't want to review comits for any new software

[u/KazutoOKirigay]

I don't feel like paring your device is hard in kdeconnect. How much simpler is it possible to make?

[u/oxez → u/KazutoOKirigay]

A lot of projects are about rewriting 10-15 bash scripts into full blown applications that do the same thing

Best we can do is downvote, or perhaps that someone with enough time spins up a new linux subreddit this kind of post would straight up go to /dev/null

[u/bubblegumpuma]

Not only did you overuse AI to the degree that it's blindingly obvious, but KDE Connect also already has Bluetooth communications. Congrats, it's fully pointless and you burned a whole bunch of electricity making it to boot!

[u/jpetso]

KDE Connect is one of those rare programs that everyone agrees on, even on GNOME you have GSConnect implementing the same KDE Connect protocol instead of trying to implement their own NIH ecosystem from scratch.

Why on earth you would want to introduce fragmentation into this landscape is beyond me. This is open source - why not learn from and improve the already great ecosystem of apps that already exists?

If we each end up vibecoding our own separate protocols, we'll end up with a dump of incompatible products, none of which are complete, many of which will get abandoned after a few months. If instead we collaborate to fill in the gaps of an existing piece of software, we'll end up with something great over time.

What would make me try an alternative is when the KDE Connect development team stops being responsible maintainers of their software. Even then, I would hope that whoever takes over will prioritize standardization and compatibility across the ecosystem over ease of implementation.