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Tether 1.6

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@subhashhhhhh subhashhhhhh released this 14 Oct 11:20
· 58 commits to main since this release
v1.6
c49c91e

💾 Your phone as a drive

  • While your phone is connected, it appears in Finder as a drive named after it, with an eject button. Browse its storage, open files, and drag files in and out.
  • Files are read from the phone as you open them, so a video starts playing right away instead of copying first. Writes are uploaded when the copy finishes.
  • It uses KDE Connect's own file sharing, so it works on Wi-Fi and over Tailscale with no setup, no administrator password and no system extension.
  • If you use ADB, you can switch a phone to wireless debugging in Settings › Files. Tether falls back to KDE Connect when ADB isn't reachable.
  • The Files tab shows whether the drive is mounted, with Eject and Mount buttons. Ejecting in Finder works too; the drive comes back when you mount it again or the phone reconnects.

✨ A cleaner look

  • The overview leads with your phone's status: connection, battery and signal, with Find, Clipboard and Send Files as round glass buttons.
  • Liquid Glass panels and buttons on macOS 26, and translucent materials on macOS 15.
  • The sidebar lists just your devices; Messages, Notifications, Files and Commands are tabs in the toolbar, next to a new Settings button.
  • Nearby only appears once an unpaired device is found.
  • The menu bar popover is rebuilt as floating glass panels.

🔧 Fixes

  • Opening the menu bar popover no longer makes a connected phone disconnect and reconnect.
  • The media volume slider now changes the phone's volume while something is playing.
  • A phone that leaves Wi-Fi shows as disconnected within about 15 seconds.
  • The Lock button only appears for devices that can be locked; KDE Connect for Android can't be.

⬇️ Install

Homebrew (recommended; no Gatekeeper prompt):

brew install --cask subhashhhhhh/tether/tether

Or download the disk image for your Mac:

  • Apple Silicon (M1 and later): Tether-1.6-AppleSilicon.dmg
  • Intel: Tether-1.6-Intel.dmg

Not sure which you have? Apple menu → About This Mac → Chip (Apple Silicon) or Processor (Intel). Tether needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later.

Tether is open source and isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open a downloaded copy macOS blocks it. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and click Open Anyway, or run:

xattr -cr /Applications/Tether.app

Already on Tether 1.5.1 or later? It updates itself from Tether › Check for Updates…

Checksums are in SHA256SUMS-1.6.txt.

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