Your devices, one flow.
A seamless ecosystem for Linux and Android.
V1 is feature-complete — everything listed below works and is in closed beta. So far it has been live-tested on one device pair (Redmi 9 / MIUI + Ubuntu / GNOME); widening that coverage is what this beta is for.
Vortex gives your Linux and Android devices the seamless one-ecosystem feel — notifications, clipboard, calls, audio and files flowing between them as if they were one device:
- ✅ Open — any Android + any Linux
- ✅ Offline-first — no cloud, works with no internet at all
- ✅ Hardware-agnostic — no premium gear required (budget BT earbuds work)
- ✅ Privacy-first — everything end-to-end encrypted, stored locally
- Notification mirror — bidirectional phone↔laptop: dismiss-sync, action buttons, inline reply from the laptop
- Universal clipboard — text + images sync, with history (Super+V)
- Smart audio handoff — earbuds follow your music between devices; jump to the phone on a call and come back after
- Phone companion — call banner (accept/decline), SMS, contacts, recent calls, dialing from the laptop
- Browsing handoff — continue the page you're reading on the phone with one click on the laptop
- Proximity lock — laptop locks when you walk away with the phone, unlocks when you're back
- Notes + To-dos — one list on both devices, with due-date reminders
- File sharing — instant drop-style, Nautilus/Dolphin integration, Wi-Fi Direct fast path
- Emoji-SAS pairing — easy AND secure: compare 3 emoji, done
- Experimental: screen mirroring (both directions) and continuity camera (phone → Linux webcam)
| Layer | Stack |
|---|---|
| Android | Kotlin + Jetpack Compose + platform BLE APIs |
| Linux daemon | Rust + Tokio + bluer + zbus |
| Linux GUI | Tauri 2.0 + Vue 3 + TypeScript |
| Shared protocol | Protocol Buffers + Noise Protocol |
| Transport | BLE (signaling) + LAN/Wi-Fi (bulk) |
Requirements: Android 10+ phone · Linux with BlueZ (Ubuntu/Debian, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE) · Bluetooth (BLE) on both devices. Build tools (Rust/Node) are installed by the script itself.
git clone https://github.com/zoir-dev/vortex && cd vortex
./install_linux.shOne command does everything and asks nothing (auto-yes; pass --ask if
you want prompts): system libraries (single sudo step, distro auto-detected),
build (10–20 min the first time), install to ~/.local/bin, menu shortcut,
autostart (sits in the tray after login), "Share via Vortex" in
Nautilus/Dolphin, and a top-bar "pill" extension on GNOME. Updates use the
same script. On GNOME+Wayland the pill appears after the first logout/login;
on non-GNOME desktops a tray icon is used instead.
⚠ Secure Boot: installation won't stop, but the Experimental
continuity-camera module (v4l2loopback) stays unsigned and may not load.
If you need it, run once: sudo dpkg-reconfigure v4l2loopback-dkms (set a
password, then enter it on the blue MOK screen at reboot). Everything else
is independent of this.
Easiest — with a USB cable. The one manual prerequisite is USB debugging (Android security requires you to open that door yourself):
- Settings → About phone → tap Build number 7 times ("You are now a developer"; on Xiaomi: tap MIUI version 7 times).
- Settings → System → Developer options → USB debugging → ON.
- Plug the cable; accept "Allow USB debugging?" on the phone.
Then:
./install_android.shThe script installs JDK/adb/Android SDK if needed (one sudo), builds,
installs to the phone, and enables Notification access + Accessibility +
background clipboard over adb by itself.
APK route (no cable/adb): install the release APK from Releases, then enable two things manually: Settings → Apps → Special access → Notification access and Accessibility → Vortex ✓. (The app also deep-links you to those pages when needed.)
On first launch the app requests what it needs (Bluetooth/Nearby devices, notifications, later calls/SMS/contacts) — grant them all; each unlocks one feature. Skip any and the app will remind you later.
Many vendors kill background apps; without Autostart, Vortex won't come back up after a reboot. The app shows a reminder card that opens the right settings page — you just tick the box:
- Xiaomi/Redmi/POCO: Security → Autostart → Vortex ✓
- Samsung: Settings → Battery → Never sleeping apps → Vortex
- Other brands: look for "Autostart" / "battery optimization" exceptions in your vendor's settings
Extra on Xiaomi: without Developer options → MIUI optimization → OFF, calling/SMS from the laptop won't work (MIUI silently blocks those permissions).
- On the laptop open Vortex (from the tray) → "Add phone"; keep the app open on the phone.
- The radar finds the phone → click it → 3 emoji appear on both screens — check they match (that's the security step).
- Tap Confirm on the phone — done. No re-pairing after that; devices reconnect on their own (BLE or same Wi-Fi).
⚠ If another BLE phone-link app is running on the laptop, close it during pairing — they fight over the BLE channel.
All device-to-device traffic is end-to-end encrypted:
- Pairing: Noise XX for first pairing, Noise IK for trusted reconnect
- Runtime: ChaCha20-Poly1305
- Key storage: hardware-backed (Android Keystore, Linux Secret Service)
- Telegram: t.me/vortexconnect — release announcements + discussion group (English and Uzbek welcome)
- GitHub Issues — bug reports (include phone model + ROM and Linux distro + desktop; BLE quirks are very device-specific)
- GitHub Discussions — questions and ideas
Bug reports and issues are very welcome — especially device/ROM-specific BLE quirks. PRs: see CONTRIBUTING.md.
GPLv3 — forks stay open.
- Zero-config UX — pairing once, everything just flows
- Noise-based security — the Signal/WireGuard school: few primitives, used correctly
- Offline-first — your data never needs anyone's server
Built with ❤️ for Linux + Android users