tether

pair an iPhone with a Linux Wayland desktop for clipboard, files, and messages

TLDR

Print remaining Bluetooth system setup commands

$ tether --bt-setup

Start Wi-Fi pairing

$ tether pair

List nearby Bluetooth devices

$ tether --bt-devices

Pair over Bluetooth (messages and notifications)

$ tether --bt-pair [address]

Show Bluetooth connection status

$ tether --bt-connection

tether is the CLI for the Tether Linux companion: clipboard sync, file drop, SMS/iMessage, and notification mirroring with an iPhone. A daemon (tetherd) owns Wayland (`wlr-data-control`), Avahi, TLS, and BlueZ. tether-gtk is the GUI. The CLI also talks to tetherd for the Firefox/Thunderbird WebExtension (native messaging, OTP autofill).Wi-Fi pairing uses the App Store app Tether - Linux Companion. Messages and notifications use Bluetooth; enable "Show Message Notifications" and "Sync Contacts" on the phone after pairing (iOS 18 and earlier lack notification mirroring).

COMMANDS

pair

Wi-Fi / mDNS pairing with the iOS app (mTLS).

--bt-setup

Print only the BlueZ/systemd steps this machine still needs. Tether never applies them itself.

--bt-devices

List Bluetooth addresses for pairing.

--bt-pair address

Pair the iPhone over Bluetooth.

--bt-connection

Show what is up and what is not.

CAVEATS

Needs a compositor with wlr-data-control (Sway, Hyprland, and similar). Bluetooth path wants BlueZ 5.86+ with the experimental bearer API; tether --bt-setup prints the drop-in. GTK UI and daemon are installed together (`make install` or Arch `tether`).

HISTORY

MIT project by zackb. Packages exist for Arch; source builds on Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora.

RESOURCES

Source code