KDEConnect compatibility?

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1

I have 2 Debian installs, one U on Sid/unstable and one S with 13/Trixie/stable.

U(nstable) has KDEConnect version 26.04.3.

S(table) has KDEConnect version 25.04.2.

On my Android phone P, running LineageOS 21/Android 14, I have KDEConnect 1.35.9 from F-Droid.

I can connect from P(hone) to both U and S. When I try Remote input against U, it works, but against S it doesn’t. With that I mean that the UI on P appears, but no matter how much I move the cursor or type on the virtual keyboard, nothing happens on the machine.

So I’m wondering if there is any incompatibility between the versions, or there might be something wrong on the B machine’s config. Both U and S are running Wayland:

U:

kwayland-integration:amd64                                6.5.4-2+b1    
kwayland5-data                                            4:5.116.0-1   
kwayland6-data                                            4:6.6.5-2     
kwin-wayland                                              4:6.6.5-2     
libkf5waylandclient5:amd64                                4:5.116.0-1+b3
libkwaylandclient6:amd64                                  4:6.6.5-2     
libqt5waylandclient5:amd64                                5.15.19-2     
libqt5waylandcompositor5:amd64                            5.15.19-2     
libqt6waylandclient6:amd64                                6.10.2+dfsg-15
libqt6waylandcompositor6:amd64                            6.10.2-5      
libva-wayland2:amd64                                      2.24.1-2      
libwayland-bin                                            1.25.0-2      
libwayland-client0:amd64                                  1.25.0-2      
libwayland-client0:i386                                   1.25.0-2      
libwayland-cursor0:amd64                                  1.25.0-2      
libwayland-dev:amd64                                      1.25.0-2      
libwayland-egl1:amd64                                     1.25.0-2      
libwayland-egl1:i386                                      1.25.0-2      
libwayland-server0:amd64                                  1.25.0-2      
qt6-wayland:amd64                                         6.10.2-5      
qtwayland5:amd64                                          5.15.19-2     
wayland-utils                                             1.3.0-1       
xwayland                                                  2:24.1.12-1

S:

kwayland-integration:amd64                          6.3.4-1    
kwayland5-data                                      4:5.116.0-1
kwayland6-data                                      4:6.3.4-1  
kwin-wayland                                        4:6.3.6-1  
libkf5waylandclient5:amd64                          4:5.116.0-1
libkwaylandclient6:amd64                            4:6.3.4-1  
libqt5waylandclient5:amd64                          5.15.15-3  
libqt5waylandcompositor5:amd64                      5.15.15-3  
libqt6waylandclient6:amd64                          6.8.2-4    
libqt6waylandcompositor6:amd64                      6.8.2-4    
libva-wayland2:amd64                                2.22.0-3   
libwayland-client++1:amd64                          1.0.0-6+b2 
libwayland-client0:amd64                            1.23.1-3   
libwayland-cursor++1:amd64                          1.0.0-6+b2 
libwayland-cursor0:amd64                            1.23.1-3   
libwayland-egl++1:amd64                             1.0.0-6+b2 
libwayland-egl1:amd64                               1.23.1-3   
libwayland-server0:amd64                            1.23.1-3   
qt6-wayland:amd64                                   6.8.2-4    
qtwayland5:amd64                                    5.15.15-3  
xwayland                                            2:24.1.6-1

Not sure what other info I ould provide.

Any ideas?

2

I do suspect that the gap between the desktop software version and the Android app is the first thing to look at. It has been quite a while, but I have seen this sort of breakage in the past due to this difference.

One small thing to try is to perhaps downgrade to a previous release in Fdroid? Or even try the Play Store version, if that is an option for you.

I don’t think the Android version is an issue (I have an old Oppo phone on A12 that seems to work fine for remote input using the fDroid apk, though I am using current Plasma, not something like Debian Stable).

3

Would that mean that there is no versioning in the protocol, then? I guess I should check here, then…

invent_kde_org/network/kdeconnect-kde/-/compare/v25.04.2…v26.04.3?from_project_id=71

(sorry, can’t send links yet)

4

I think it is just one possibility, based on a past experience or two.

But to be honest the age difference is not large here.

5

I tried to rad the code, but I can’t really ind the big difference. I’ll open a bug, see what they say.

6

After several months of daily use, remote input stopped working a few days ago on a vanilla Kubuntu 26.04 install. I installed X11 and chose it at login, and remote input works again.

Can you try X11?

7

I confirm, X11 works, thanks!

So this is a bug for the Wayland backend. Luckily I already included all that info :slight_smile:

8

This makes me suspect the significant freerdp3 version upgrade that Ubuntu just released as a security fix a few days ago. Plasma’s remote desktop server or the client (KRDC) broke after this. I do believe that this is what KDEConnect is using as well.

I rolled back to a snapshot from just before the freerdp upgrade on Kubuntu, and I can access it using RDP again. I can’t test the KDEConnect remote input until I am back at home. It was working for me on the Kubuntu box a few days ago when I tested it.