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Nectarlink 0.1.0 Pollen

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@github-actions github-actions released this 14 Oct 18:54
· 157 commits to main since this release
v0.1.0
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Learn about vigilant mode.
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Learn about vigilant mode.

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 updates automatically is on by default. On Windows, updates install through a system task once nobody has used the PC for 10 minutes and nothing is in progress, with no administrator prompt. Both settings can be turned off.

Known limitations

  • Call audio stays on the phone: Android doesn't let apps capture cellular call audio, and Windows reserves its Bluetooth hands-free API for its own apps.
  • Without Elevated, Android doesn't let apps read the clipboard in the background. Use the Quick Settings tile, the share sheet or the widget.
  • Chats from messaging apps show messages that arrive while connected. Older history and new chats need the app itself, for example in an app window.
  • Apps that protect their screens, such as banking and streaming apps, show black when mirrored.
  • The Windows Share sheet and the Widgets board need package identity from a signed installer. Send to in File Explorer and the Shelf work on every install.
  • Wake-on-LAN from shutdown usually needs a wired connection.
  • Windows adds its own copy button to some code notifications, so a popup can show two.

See Known limitations for the details.

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