DesktopANCS

By Matt Schulte schultetwin1@gmail.com

WARNING: This is still very much in alpha phase. Don't expect anything to work properly the first time. Open up any issues you have on github.

Intro

DesktopANCS is a way to get text and call notifications from your iPhone to your linux box without any app on the phone. It uses the ANCS Bluetooth Low Energy service on your iPhone and libnotify on your linux machine.

Requirements

1. Linux machine with ble host
2. Qt 5.7
3. My modifications to the QtConnectivity library found here in the roleswitch branch. You will need to compile and install this library

Building

As long as you have qt 5.7 installed you should be able to just run

make

Usage

After cloning and compiling DesktopANCS please allow the binary to change the advertising status of your bluetooth adapter using

sudo setcap cap_net_raw+eip DesktopANCS

Then run

./DesktopANCS

On your iPhone go to Settings -> Bluetooth. DesktopANCS should tell you in its output what your computer's name is. When the name appears click to pair with it. Once its connected any call or text notifications should appear on your computer.

If you want this to run all the time you can install a user systemd service using

./install.sh

Please look through the script first and modified anything you don't want to happen. Its a super simple script.

Todo

• Let the user configure which apps they want to come through
• Deal with modified / read notifications
• Show missed calls vs current calls
• Enable actions
• The list goes on and on...