6 votes

Best Android Alternative to iOS Continuity

The one good thing, imo, that iOS does is its continuity and handoff with other devices. What are the best ways you've found to emulate this on your devices? Like if I'm actively working on a document or on web pages how can I seamlessly continue using them on my tablet/phone without having to re-open all the tabs or docs again?

Has anyone found a better way?

At the moment I get around this a couple ways:
-Google drive is my primary basic filesystem on all my main computer (desktop/documents/downloads/pictures/videos folders)
-Google Photos on all devices
-PulseSMS for the texting
-Google Chrome which offers a somewhat fix to webbrowsing

But the actual feature of my devices popping up and letting me "carry on" with what I was doing exactly where I was doing it with the click of the button isn't there. Also, the Google Chrome "continuity" is simply the ability to let me go see recent tabs open on my devices and click to reopen them. If anyone knows a way to sync tabs across all my devices (desktop/laptop/phone/tablet) and make them open/close altogether that would be great.

8 comments

  1. [4]
    geosmin
    (edited )
    Link
    Often what I'm browsing on mobile isn't particularly relevant to what I'll be browsing on a computer and vice versa, so I've found Firefox's push tab to device feature fills that niche perfectly...

    Often what I'm browsing on mobile isn't particularly relevant to what I'll be browsing on a computer and vice versa, so I've found Firefox's push tab to device feature fills that niche perfectly well when I do need to send something over.

    For texting I'm on Signal as well as most of the people I regularly text, so that's (imperfectly) handled there.

    I feel Nextcloud and KDE Connect would be good mentions here but I'm not too familiar with either.

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      ContemplativePanda
      Link Parent
      Interesting. I'm so tied into Google that I think I'll continue with Chrome. I also prefer SMS to other apps. I'm hoping one day Android Messages gets RCS so we can use that. But I also hope that...

      Interesting. I'm so tied into Google that I think I'll continue with Chrome. I also prefer SMS to other apps. I'm hoping one day Android Messages gets RCS so we can use that. But I also hope that I can see a dinosaur again, so...

      What do Nextcloud and KDE Connect do? I really just need something to keep tabs more synced up cause I often forget what I was doing or had several tabs. And, having the ability to press a prompt and have my device know to open what I was doing before on my other device would be awesome. But, with Drive it's not a massive concern.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        geosmin
        Link Parent
        Neither do what you're looking for, I'm not sure if there's a good solution for that. Couldn't you just use the (shared) history?

        Neither do what you're looking for, I'm not sure if there's a good solution for that. Couldn't you just use the (shared) history?

        1 vote
        1. ContemplativePanda
          Link Parent
          I could and do. It would be nice to have it more cohesive as a whole though, which is why I was asking.

          I could and do. It would be nice to have it more cohesive as a whole though, which is why I was asking.

          1 vote
  2. [4]
    hook
    Link
    Both Nextcloud and KDE Connect are definitely great. Don’t be dissuaded by the name though, KDE Connect works with any DE.

    Both Nextcloud and KDE Connect are definitely great.

    Don’t be dissuaded by the name though, KDE Connect works with any DE.

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      ContemplativePanda
      Link Parent
      Interesting. Nextcloud seems like a Google Drive alternative unless I'm mistaken. But KDE Connect, is that an alternative to Pushbullet and "Desktop notifications for Android" then?

      Interesting. Nextcloud seems like a Google Drive alternative unless I'm mistaken. But KDE Connect, is that an alternative to Pushbullet and "Desktop notifications for Android" then?

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        geosmin
        Link Parent
        Nextcloud is a(n optionally) self-hosted cloud thingy. Contacts, automatic photo uploads, cloud storage, even docs through Libreoffice. KDE Connect is a bridge between Android and Linux. You can...

        Nextcloud is a(n optionally) self-hosted cloud thingy. Contacts, automatic photo uploads, cloud storage, even docs through Libreoffice.

        KDE Connect is a bridge between Android and Linux. You can receive phone notifications on your computer, have it pause your music when you get a phone call, share your clipboard, share files, etc.

        5 votes