this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023

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107

Turn your phone into a powerful Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (no servers needed) (lemdro.id)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is a gem of an app that turns your android phone into a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard for other devices.

Edit:

What makes this app different from other "remote control" apps? Most of them need a "server" or "companion" app to be installed on your other device. This app doesn't. It just needs pairing via Bluetooth.

I use it to control an Android tv box. As you know typing with on-screen keyboards on tv screens is an absolute pain.

With this app you can type anything on your smartphone and send it to any text field on your other device. You can also add cistom keys and key combinations. Note the CTRL+A shortcut key i have added for select all in the screenshot for example.

It can also work as a mouse with customizable buttons.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.appground.blek

top 23 comments

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago

This looks neat except for the keylogging potential. I'd want something like this to be open source before I can use it seriously.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

As an alternative, you could consider KDE Connect. It does a lot more than just keyboard and touchpad. You can even send files both ways extremely quickly.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It looks like you have to install KDE connect on both devices, and they have to be on the same network. Handy, but completely different type of app and method of execution.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah this app needs no "server" app. It's original name was "serverless keyboard and mouse"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

While i adore the project. I tried it for a year and it got to the point that i had made a script to restart the process as the reliability of it actually working was non-existent. Off course it never worked when it could've saved some time. I usually ended up telegramming files.

This was on android & windows connection maybe 1-2 years ago. Maybe it's gotten better. I haven't had to use it as the Motorola Ready For -desktop companion is doing good.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Actually I have a real Bluetooth keyboard to type things on my phone as typing on a small phone screen can be an absolute pain 😂

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I have several too. I still find usefulness in this as you can copy-paste text to the other device, like long passwords/emails. I would have killed to have something like this when i had to setup my parents smart-tv.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Sauce code?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Paid app :(

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

There are a slew of Android TV remote apps that do all this and more, like including home/back buttons, integrated search etc. They also pair easier. The first party Google TV app covers this smoother than a BT keyboard/mouse app.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Most of them need a server app to be installed on the other machine. This app needs no server or companion apps.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The official one doesn't. I've used a couple others that didn't.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I guess that requires your phone and Google TV to be connected to the same wifi network. This only needs bluetooth. It also has advanced features such as a pc keyboard, customized shortcuts and a lot more!

[–] mp3 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The first party one has been merged right into the Google TV app.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Ahh, that's where that went.... I couldn't find it in my apps and figured I'd removed it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I've used it before, it doesn't work at all even on multiple devices. But hey, that's just me. Maybe the app has improved now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Wow it actually works with Chromecast Ultra. It works with my Linux desktop too, previously I use kdeconnect for that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

My tv is my second monitor. I have used this app almost daily for an entire year. It's pretty good. The custom layout needs some work. Either that or I'm too dumb (it's probably that).

[–] mp3 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Despite all my attempts, I can't seem to get it to connect to my Windows laptop as a virtual mouse and keyboard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I had to remove a previous saved connection from the pc-side.

[–] mp3 1 points 2 years ago

Already tried re-pairing from scratch, no bueno.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Instant buy! Thanks a lot for it

I used for years Unified Remote, but this app stopped in time. So I switched to KDE Connect, but this was very redundant with Join (my other app to connect my device).

This one... It's perfect! And no server required opens up more and more use cases :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah I think this is a must-have app. Glad you found it useful!

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