Say Hi to KDE Connect Again

Google removed KDE Connect from Google Play Store and revived it back again last week over the reason that the app “violated” new policy on SMS access. It was stated that the SMS features offered by the app weren't considered intrinsic to the core functionality, and the users weren't given enough information about that.

This lead KDE Connect devs to push out a modified version of them with the SMS plugin disabled. And after filing the requisite forms Google has whitelisted the app (hurrah) and a fully featured version of KDE Connect is back on the Google Play Store. However, the version distributed via F-Droid was not affected.

In case you have the KDE Connect Android app installed on your phone, you only have to install the latest update so that you will get the SMS and call integration features back again. After the update, you will be able to send and receive text messages from the Linux desktop via KDE Connect desktop app