Secure Ways to Transfer Files Between Linux & Android Phone
To transfer files and images securely between Linux and Android might appear to be a daunting task at first. But fortunately there are many safe, secure and private methods available to save the day and facilitate transfer of your personal data between your both devices quickly. We take a look at the best options available, both online and offline methods to securely transfer data between your Android phone and Linux device.
KDE Connect
Local Send
Cloud Storage
Messaging Apps
Cable Wire
Bluetooth
1. KDE Connect
Transferring data from Android to Linux via KDE Connect is one the most convenient method. You need to install the KDE Connect app on the Android phone and pair it with the computer, as KDE Connect is already available on LIX Linux. You can share documents, photos and clipboard.
On top of that it also lets you remotely control certain aspects of the computer such as volume control, act as a mouse, remotely change slides during presentation, receive notifications from phone, ring misplaced device and a lot more. KDE connect is designed to easily pair devices and share files between them quickly and synchronize your Linux and Android experience.
2. Local Send
Local Send is the best way to share files at an incredibly fast speed and being truly private and secure at the same time. You need to install the app on both devices and pair them. The files are then sent over the WiFi and received at the desired device locally. It doesn’t send or upload any file to any server, such as cloud storage and messaging apps.
It cuts the middle man service and all files fly straight from one device to another, as file transfers are done locally. By removing the need to upload files to a third party server and later downloading them, the entire is super fast. With a beautiful UI, easy to pair and share makes it the best and fastest option to share files between Android phone and Linux.
3. Cloud Storage
Sharing large file such as videos and photos in bulk is a big relief thanks to above methods. But what if, you want to save them in another secure storage apart from your devices or just want to share medium to small sized files while you are away from the Linux device.
You can upload them to the cloud storage from the app on your phone and later download them on your Linux computer. Also, if you need to send them to a friend or share them with family members. In this case, uploading them to the cloud storage will be the best option as they will be safely stored and act as a backup as well.
4. Messaging Apps
Messaging apps such as Signal, Wire and Telegram can be used to efficiently share files between Android phone and Linux desktop and the messages are synced across the desktop and mobile. You would need to install the messaging app on both devices and link the Linux desktop from the phone.
For securely sending files you would need to attach a file, image or document and you may create for this purpose an empty group such as “Linux transfer group” and send the files or images in it. After you send the file and it has been uploaded, it will pop up on the desktop client, which can then be securely downloaded.
5. Cable Wire
Uploading and later retrieving from the cloud storage or messaging apps has it its own benefits but one downfall to it is that it can take a great deal of time in finding, uploading and later downloading the files. If you don’t need to create a backup on cloud storage then transferring the data from your phone to the computer via data cable is the safest option.
All you need to do is to plug cable on both ends and transfer the file to the computer. Some mobile devices show up rather easily while others may require some tweaking in settings to make them accessible on the Linux desktop.
6. Bluetooth
Wires can be a hassle, if you already have a lot attached to the computer and carrying them everywhere might not be fun. In this case, you can connect your phone to your computer via Bluetooth and share files.
Bluetooth speed is just not be as fast as sharing over WiFi which is provided by Local Send and definitely not as fast as a wired connection. But being able to transfer files without extra cables is a bliss.
7. SD Card
Another way to transfer files to your computer is through an SD card. If your phone has a dedicated SD card slot, you can pop out the card tray and place the card in it. On your phone, locate the SD card in file manager and transfer files to the card which you need.
Later, you need to remove the card from phone and plug in to the computer via SD card reader if your device doesn’t support a direct SD Card slot. This method is much faster than Bluetooth and you can also create an offline backup on SD card.
8. USB
Many modern smartphones don’t have a dedicated SD card slot but some can connect to a USB via OTG connector allowing you to access the USB in smartphone file manager as external storage. You can transfer all files to the USB with help of OTG, plug it out from phone and plug in to computer to access all those files.
The USB-OTG approach can be faster than SD card and much more convenient as you don’t need to pop out the sim-card tray from the inside of your phone. All connections happen externally using the charging port of your phone.
Best Option
There are many ways to securely transfer files between Linux and Android phones but the best option depends on per case basis. Cloud storage helps in creating a backup on cloud and data can be synced between both devices but it may not be ideal for very large files and when there is a need for quick share, in this case Local Send would be more useful.
But in absence of wireless connection it will not be feasible and physical hardware devices like USBs and SD cards may provider better options in such scenarios. But ultimately it depends on what you’re most comfortable with, what files you need to transfer and at what speed.