NectarLink 0.1.4 Pollen

Steadier connections, Pause for banking apps, Simplified Chinese on Android, and the fixes for what people ran into in the first days after launch.

Downloads

Download	For	Needs
Nectarlink-0.1.4-x64-setup.exe	Windows	Windows 11, 64-bit (Windows 10 works, without Phone as webcam)
Nectarlink-0.1.4-android.apk	Android	Android 8.0 or newer

Both are listed with their SHA-256 hashes in SHA256SUMS.txt. Installed copies update themselves.

New

• Pause for banking apps. Many banking apps won't open while Developer options, debugging or an accessibility service is on. Choose them in Settings › Control from your PC: while one is open, NectarLink turns those off, and turns back on exactly what was on when you leave, even after a crash or a restart. A shortcut can pause first for apps that check as they open.
• Simplified Chinese for the Android app, by @zzz1465720680 (#13). It follows the phone's language.
• Turn the phone's screen off from an app window, as screen mirroring could: the phone stays awake with its screen dark, and the apps keep running on the PC. Keep phone awake works there too.
• Root as a way to set up Elevated. On a rooted phone (Magisk, KernelSU or APatch), Use root in Elevated setup starts it without pairing Wireless debugging, and it comes back by itself after a restart or away from Wi-Fi. It runs with the same permissions as through Wireless debugging.
• Installing past Google Play Protect. The install guide and troubleshooting explain what to do when Play Protect blocks the APK with no Install anyway button, as it now does in India and many other countries, by @eren-998 (#11). The README points there from the downloads.

Changed

• Root is only used when you choose it. On a rooted phone, NectarLink asked for root every time it started and ran its Elevated helper as root. Now nothing asks for root unless you pick Use root, and the helper runs as the shell user either way.
• The apps say "PC" instead of "Windows PC".

Fixed

• Far fewer disconnects. As the phone app opened, two of its startup calls could race and start the phone's connection twice, with one identity. The two took the PC from each other every few seconds: windows and mirroring dropped or couldn't start, and the PC showed the phone connecting over and over. It now starts once.
• Windows 10. NectarLink and its installer start on Windows 10. They failed right away with "Entry Point Not Found" because the Windows 11-only virtual camera was required at startup. On Windows 10, everything works except Phone as webcam, which needs Windows 11.
• Phone sound never falls back to the microphone. On a phone that blocks capturing what it plays, Elevated recorded the microphone instead and sent it to the PC as the phone's sound. It now sends no sound.
• Mirroring with Elevated starts without asking on the phone. Starting it failed on the phone (it opened the helper's stream on the main thread, which Android refuses), so it fell back to asking you to share the screen.
• Screen mirroring and app windows use the GPU. They decode on the PC's GPU when it has one, and in software when it doesn't or if the GPU fails mid-stream, and convert pictures on several cores. Large phone screens and several app windows stay smooth with less CPU.
• App windows and mirroring stay up.
  • With an app open in a window on the PC, the phone went to sleep after its screen timeout, which stopped the app and froze the window. While a window is open, the phone now stays awake with its screen dimmed, and sleeps as usual once the last window closes.
  • While it streams, the phone keeps its Wi-Fi and processor awake, so it stays on the network with its screen off.
  • If the connection to the PC dropped or was replaced just as you opened an app window or the phone's screen, the phone gave up at once with "Offline". It now waits up to 10 seconds for the connection to come back.
• Phone as webcam in 4K is smooth. The PC decoded and converted each 4K frame in about 47 ms, over the 33 ms a frame has at 30 fps, so frames were dropped. It now decodes on the GPU when there is one and converts on several cores, about 19 ms a frame (#6).
• Webcam resolution. The resolution buttons on the PC and the phone follow what's actually streaming, whichever side changed it; held upright, the phone's showed none selected. 4K is offered only when the camera in use can output it, so switching to a front camera without 4K drops to 1080p.
• Typing and pasting into the phone's screen and app windows.
  • The emoji panel (Win+.) and input methods for Chinese and other languages work while you control the phone. Only plain key presses got through before.
  • Win+V pastes. Windows marks an item picked from clipboard history as one for clipboard watchers to skip, and NectarLink skipped it even when you asked to paste it.
  • Pasting is instant instead of typing out a letter at a time, and a pasted line break no longer presses Enter, which sent chat messages early.
• Typing on the PC from the phone works like a normal keyboard. In Control PC, Backspace deletes, the symbols page stays open for more than one symbol, autocorrect and suggestions work, and letters no longer come out jumbled.
• No "copied" pop-up on the phone for copies made on the PC. With Elevated on, text from the PC goes on the phone's clipboard without the copy toast or preview Android and One UI show for every copy. Without Elevated, Android doesn't let an app avoid it.
• Calls show who is calling. An answered call lost the contact name on the PC, and calls made on the phone showed "Unknown caller". The name now stays for the whole call, the number comes from Android's call service when its broadcast has none, and a number not in contacts shows as the number.
• Old calls and notifications no longer come back after the PC sleeps or restarts. A call whose end the phone never recorded rang again on every reconnect; it now counts as over after 90 seconds of ringing. Notifications you clear on the PC stay cleared when the phone resends its list (on reconnect or Refresh), even when the phone can't remove them, as with missed calls and alarms. A new post from the same app shows as usual.
• Android: the app no longer crashes when you turn off notification access or force stop it, or when Phone as webcam's preview comes back (the same fix covers the QR scanner and Continuity Camera).
• Android: changing the theme in Settings no longer jumps back to Home (#8).
• Android: on Hive, the category chips at the top of Settings and the Home/Settings bar are solid, so the honeycomb and the list no longer show through them.
• Windows: button tooltips, such as Pause on the media card, show next to their button again instead of in the window's top-left corner.
• Pausing a transfer on the receiving device just as its last bytes arrived left the sending device waiting, showing it as still sending. Both now show it paused.

Thanks

To @zzz1465720680 for the Simplified Chinese translation and the reports in #6 and #8, @eren-998 for the Play Protect guide, @jochenkirstaetter for testing on a Pixel and the Linux port in progress, and everyone who reported problems on GitHub and X.

NectarLink 0.1.3 Pollen

Hive, a new theme for both apps, and updates to the Windows app that work on slow or unsteady connections and show how far they are.

Downloads

Download	For	Needs
Nectarlink-0.1.3-x64-setup.exe	Windows	Windows 11, 64-bit
Nectarlink-0.1.3-android.apk	Android	Android 8.0 or newer

Both are listed with their SHA-256 hashes in SHA256SUMS.txt. Installed copies update themselves. If Update in 0.1.2 or earlier closes NectarLink and nothing happens, install this version from the link above once; updates after it work from the app.

New

• Hive, a theme for the Windows and Android apps: honey on charcoal in dark mode and on warm wax in light mode, with a living honeycomb behind the whole app. The comb grows from the logo, breathes slowly, and sends a soft pulse of light outward every few seconds, the same on the PC and the phone. On the PC the phone on Home shows it too. Its colors are fixed, so the wallpaper, artwork and phone color options are hidden while it's on.
  • Choose it in Settings › Appearance, or from the Try Hive card on Home. Dismissed, the card returns only after an update or a reinstall.
  • Animated comb (on by default) turns the motion off. The comb also holds still with reduced motion or battery saver on, and while the app isn't in front.
  • Light on resources: one GPU shader draws the comb, updated about 30 times a second and only while the window is in front. On Android 12 and older, a still comb breathes.
• The installer and uninstaller share Hive's comb.

Fixed

• Updating the Windows app. Clicking Update closed NectarLink right away, and the download that followed in the background could time out on a slow connection to GitHub's download server. The update then failed with no sign of it, and NectarLink reopened only minutes later. Now NectarLink stays open while it downloads, shows the progress in Settings › Connection & About, resumes a download that was cut off, and closes only once the update is downloaded and checked. If an update doesn't install, NectarLink reopens and says so.
• Slow responses from GitHub no longer fail update checks or downloads: the Windows app waits longer and tries again.
• Album art no longer goes blank on the Windows app's Home media card after the track changes or the card switches between the phone and this PC. The same fix covers rounded images in notifications, calls, messages and the shelf.
• Elevated on Android reconnects by itself after Wi-Fi drops or changes. It used to stay on Try again until tapped, even with Wireless debugging back on. Now it starts again as soon as Wireless debugging is on, and keeps trying while the phone is on Wi-Fi.

Nectarlink 0.1.2 Pollen

A smoother update on both devices, and the phone reconnects on its own after an update or a restart.

Downloads

Download	For	Needs
Nectarlink-0.1.2-x64-setup.exe	Windows	Windows 11, 64-bit
Nectarlink-0.1.2-android.apk	Android	Android 8.0 or newer

Both are listed with their SHA-256 hashes in SHA256SUMS.txt. Installed copies update themselves.

Fixed

• The phone reconnects after an update or a restart. Android closes an app while it updates, and nothing brought Nectarlink's connection back until the app was opened again, so the PC showed the phone as gone. The connection now comes back on its own, after an update and after the phone restarts. A notification says the update is done; tapping it opens the app.
• Check for updates in the phone's Settings shows what it found: that Nectarlink is up to date, or the update with its Update button and progress, or why it couldn't check. Before, the button greyed out and nothing appeared.
• Allowing installs continues the update. When Android first asks to let Nectarlink install updates, coming back from that screen now carries on with the update instead of staying on Allow.
• Phone downloads resume. A dropped or changed connection no longer fails the update: the download waits for the network and continues where it stopped, also after the app restarts. Progress shows the size downloaded.
• Updates keep going in the background. Leaving the screen no longer stops a phone update that's downloading. Saying no to Android's install prompt leaves the update ready to install instead of reporting an error.
• The PC app comes to the front after updating. It reopened behind other windows; now it comes forward and a notification says it's updated. The same fix brings the window forward when Nectarlink is opened while already running.

Nectarlink 0.1.1 Pollen

Fewer steps when sharing from the phone, clearer setup on phones that hold back permissions, and Graphite as the phone's default look.

Downloads

Download	For	Needs
Nectarlink-0.1.1-x64-setup.exe	Windows	Windows 11, 64-bit
Nectarlink-0.1.1-android.apk	Android	Android 8.0 or newer

Both are listed with their SHA-256 hashes in SHA256SUMS.txt. Installed copies update themselves.

Changed

• Sharing from the phone sends right away. Choosing Nectarlink in the Android share sheet starts the transfer immediately, with no Flick to send card or Undo countdown. With more than one PC connected, you pick one first. Progress shows in a notification with a Cancel button, followed by a Sent to confirmation that clears itself.
• Files shared from the phone no longer open on the PC by themselves. A shared photo or document is saved to Downloads\Nectarlink and announced in a notification. To have it open in its default app as it arrives, turn on Settings › Files & Sync › Open files shared from the phone (off by default).
• Graphite is the phone app's default theme, in light or dark to match the phone. Bloom and Glass remain in Settings › Appearance, and a theme you already picked stays as it is. The Windows app is unchanged.

Fixed

• Restricted settings during phone setup. On Android 13 and newer, an app installed from a file can't get notification access or the accessibility service, and on Android 15 and newer the SMS permission, until the user allows restricted settings. When that happens, setup now explains it and offers Open app info: tap ⋮, then Allow restricted settings, and come back to grant.
• Manage buttons in phone setup. For a permission that's already granted, Manage now opens the screen where it can be changed: notification access, App info, All files access or Accessibility. Before, it did nothing.
• Release notes on GitHub keep their paragraphs instead of breaking at every line of the changelog.

Nectarlink 0.1.0 Pollen

The first public release of Nectarlink: the Windows app, the Android app and the nectarlink command-line client. Nectarlink connects an Android phone and a Windows 11 PC directly over your network or a USB cable, end-to-end encrypted, with no account and no cloud service.

Downloads

Download	For	Needs
Nectarlink-0.1.0-x64-setup.exe	Windows	Windows 11, 64-bit
Nectarlink-0.1.0-android.apk	Android	Android 8.0 or newer

Both are listed with their SHA-256 hashes in SHA256SUMS.txt.

The Android app is signed with the project's release key. The Windows installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen asks once: choose More info, then Run anyway.

Setup and pairing

• Installer. A setup window of its own, light or dark to match Windows. One click installs, with one administrator prompt. Setup adds the Windows Firewall rule for local connections, Start menu and desktop shortcuts, Send to in File Explorer and the update task, and starts Nectarlink with Windows. What this installs on the first screen lists all of it. The last screen shows a QR code that opens the Android app's download page.
• Uninstaller. Removes everything setup added, along with the app's settings and pairings on the PC. Files you received and voice recordings stay where they were saved.
• First-run walkthrough in both apps: a privacy summary, installing the phone app, pairing, choosing what to share, and an optional PC check (notifications, Start with Windows, firewall). It resumes where you left off and can be reopened from Settings.
• Features Guide in both apps: every feature, whether it works with your paired phone right now, what would enable it, and a Show me button that goes to its control.
• Pairing by QR code (from the Nectarlink app or any camera app), by picking a nearby device and comparing a 6-digit code, or automatically over a USB cable. Pairing links opened from other apps ask before pairing.
• Power levels on Android:
  • Standard: ordinary Android permissions.
  • Assist: adds the accessibility service, so the PC's mouse and keyboard can tap, swipe and type on the phone.
  • Elevated: a one-time Wireless debugging setup, no root. Adds real touch and key input, phone apps in their own windows, background clipboard sync, one-time codes on Android 15 and newer, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switches, and in-call mute, hold and speaker.
• Connection Doctor in both apps: checks the firewall rule, the network profile, VPN routing, Wi-Fi client isolation and Android battery restrictions, and fixes what it can.

Notifications

• The phone's notifications on the PC, as Windows popups and in a live feed on Home, grouped by app and conversation.
• Inline replies and notification actions from the PC.
• Dismissed on one device, dismissed on the other.
• Live Updates: progress bars, timers, deliveries and rides, kept current.
• One-time codes are detected and get a Copy code button. They are never kept in clipboard history.
• Pictures attached to notifications, such as photos in chat messages.
• Dismissed notification history, per-app mute rules and notification profiles.
• Optional: the PC's own notifications forwarded to the phone.

Messages

• SMS and MMS conversations on the PC: read, reply, send pictures and start new conversations, with contact search.
• Chats from RCS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and other messaging apps in the same inbox, answered through each app's own reply.
• Open conversations update as new texts arrive.

Calls

• An incoming call banner on the PC with caller ID: answer, decline, or decline with a text message.
• Hang up from the PC. With Elevated: mute, hold, speakerphone and the keypad.
• Call any number or contact through the phone from the PC dialer.
• Recent calls and contacts.
• Call audio stays on the phone (see Known limitations).

Clipboard

• Copy on one device and paste on the other: plain text, formatted text, images and copied files.
• On the phone: the Send clipboard Quick Settings tile, the share sheet and the home-screen widget. With Elevated, copies on the phone reach the PC in the background.
• Context chips on the PC for what was copied, such as Open for a link.
• Optional history of the last 50 items, encrypted on disk.
• Passwords from password managers are never sent, and anything Android marks as sensitive stays on the phone.

Files and photos

• Files and folders in both directions at Wi-Fi speed. Transfers can be paused, resume after a dropped connection, and are verified with BLAKE3.
• Send to in File Explorer, drag and drop, and the share sheet on the phone.
• Waiting to send: files, clipboard items, links and alerts sent while the other device is offline are delivered in order when it reconnects.
• The phone's storage in File Explorer, and the PC's files from the phone.
• Folder sync between the phone and the PC.
• LocalSend compatibility, to send to and receive from LocalSend devices.
• Photos: the phone's camera roll, screenshots and albums on the PC, with full-resolution viewing, saving several at once, dragging into other apps, and alerts for new photos and screenshots.

Screen mirroring and app windows

• The phone's screen in a window on the PC at up to 60 frames per second (H.264, H.265 or AV1, hardware decoded), with the phone's sound.
• Control it with the PC's mouse and keyboard (Assist or Elevated).
• Screenshots and MP4 recordings; keep the phone awake, or turn its screen off while mirroring.
• Apps: open any phone app in a window of its own on the PC, with its own taskbar icon, running beside whatever the phone shows (Elevated, Android 11 and newer).
• Desktop mode (Samsung DeX and Android desktop mode) in a PC window.
• The PC's screen on the phone.

Your PC from the phone

• Touchpad, air mouse, keyboard with a modifier bar, voice typing, and a presentation remote with a laser pointer.
• Deck: a grid of buttons for the PC (media, shortcuts, apps, commands and OBS Studio), with live volume and mute.
• Lock, sleep and wake the PC, including Wake-on-LAN.
• Desk clock: a stand display for the phone on a charger or desk stand, with the time, the PC's media and quick actions.

Camera and sound

• Phone as a webcam through the Nectarlink Webcam virtual camera, in Zoom, Teams, Meet, OBS and the Camera app, at up to 4K where the phone supports it, with lens and zoom controls.
• Continuity Camera: take a photo or scan a document with the phone, with corner cropping and a black-and-white mode, and have it on the PC's clipboard.
• Phone as a speaker for the PC's sound.
• Voice recorder: record on the phone with timestamped markers and save to the PC as M4A, MP3, WAV or FLAC.

Across both devices

• Handoff: links, map locations, videos at the same timestamp, and documents open on the other device.
• Media controls in both directions.
• Type on phone: type into the phone with the PC's keyboard, without mirroring.
• Phone controls on PC Home: Do Not Disturb, ringer, volume, flashlight, brightness, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
• Battery levels and low-battery alerts, and Find my device to ring the phone.
• Timeline: a searchable history of everything that moved between your devices.

On the PC

• Three themes, Bloom, Glass and Graphite, each in light and dark. The accent color can follow the desktop wallpaper, the album art of what's playing, or the paired phone's colors, or be one of five presets.
• Command Palette (Ctrl+Alt+Space) for every action, from any app.
• Shelf (Ctrl+Alt+S): a slide-out panel with the phone's latest photo, screenshot, clipboard item and recent files, plus Flick to send.
• Nectar Island: an optional pill at the top of the screen for calls, transfers, media, timers and alerts.
• The system tray and a taskbar Jump List.
• Automations: trigger-action rules, and nectarlink notify-when for an alert on the phone when a long task finishes.
• An opt-in local HTTP API on 127.0.0.1 with a bearer token, and a PowerToys Command Palette extension.
• Keyboard navigation and screen reader labels throughout.

On the phone

• Material You colors from the wallpaper, in light and dark.
• A home-screen widget and a Quick Settings tile.
• A foreground service keeps the connection, with battery settings explained per manufacturer.

Command-line client

nectarlink pairs (pair, join, nearby), lists and unpairs devices, shows what works with a device (caps) and what it may do (toggle, toggles), sends files and clipboard content, rings a device, controls media, acts on notifications, and can stand in for a phone (--as-phone) for testing. It builds on Windows and Linux.

Privacy and security

• Local-first: devices connect directly over the local network or USB. Nothing passes through a Nectarlink server, and there is no account.
• Every connection is QUIC with TLS 1.3, authenticated with Ed25519 device keys exchanged at pairing. Keys are protected by Windows DPAPI and the Android Keystore.
• Each paired device has its own feature switches. Remote control of the PC, shell commands and access to the phone's storage are off until you allow them.
• Connect over mobile data (off by default) keeps paired devices connected across networks through relays that carry only encrypted traffic.
• The only other internet traffic is the update check against GitHub Releases, which can be turned off.

Updates

• Both apps check GitHub Releases once a day and verify every download against SHA256SUMS.txt. The Android app also refuses an APK not signed with its own key.
• **Install ...