KDEconnect does not see my phone

[hstoellinger]

Hello,
I have been using kdeconnect for a long time. It worked beautifully on my Sony-VAIO, Sony-XZ3 with Android 10, and Kubuntu 20.04 combination.
Now, having just installed Kubuntu 20.10, I cannot get Kubuntu to recognize my phone anymore. I can ping both ways (using the command-line),
but under the kdeconnect GUI the phone is not shown anymore for pairing.
Starting kdeconnect-app from the command line and looking at syslog I see the following messages that might be relevant to the problem:

/usr/bin/kdeconnect-app
file:///usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/qml/org/kde/kirigami.2/private/globaltoolbar/PageRowGlobalToolBarUI.qml:49:9: QML PrivateActionToolButton: Binding loop detected for property "checkable"
file:///usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/qml/org/kde/kirigami.2/ContextDrawer.qml:79: TypeError: Cannot call method 'hasOwnProperty' of null

Starting KDE-GUI from the app-launcher I see the following messages in syslog:

Nov 10 15:56:48 hslaptop dbus-daemon[1752]: [session uid=1000 pid=1752] Activating service name='org.kde.runners.baloo' requested by ':1.46' (uid=1000
pid=2045 comm="/usr/bin/plasmashell " label="unconfined")
Nov 10 15:56:54 hslaptop dbus-daemon[1752]: [session uid=1000 pid=1752] Activated service 'org.kde.runners.baloo' failed: Process org.kde.runners.balo
o exited with status 255
Nov 10 15:57:03 hslaptop systemd[1736]: Started app-org.kde.kdeconnect.app-055092c1e1de41adb353e0dccb3a5280.scope.

Any ideas?
Regards
H. Stoellinger, Salzburg, Austria

[claydoh]

Nothing in the outputs has anything indicating anything bad, afaik.

Assuming this is the same computer as the one that had 20.04 and it is a new install (not an upgrade), it is very possible that you may need to reset the android app, and remove any pairings on the computer side, if any.
The app stores some info, and with the new OS, the pairings info is probably bad on the phone end due to new device IDs being generated, or something like that.

So on the phone, clear out any pairings, and then force close the app and clear the app data. Remove any pairings on the computer, if any, and open kdeconnect on the phone, and see if things work better.


The same sort of thing can happen when a major update to the phone app occurs.

I have to do this when installing a fresh OS on my computers, unless I have backups of my settings restored (and even then it can still break). upgrades I haven't had this sort of issue.

It would be nice if the phone app could better indicate that a pairing had been broken. Essentially, when you install a new OS, the computer becomes a brand new device, in terms of pairing. I think some things like hardware info are used to set up pairings,and unique ID are set up between the device and the computer, so the phone may have an old ID for the computer .

[Fred47]

I agree with claydoh. Often the phone app needs updating after the plasma app gets updated. Usually happens in a few days at most. You will also have to re-sync the devices as he points out.

[hstoellinger]

Hello,
Thanks for trying to help!
I "apt-get purged" kdeconnect from Kubuntu and also deleted/re-installed kdeconnect from my phone. So there shouldn't be any remaining stuff on either side. Seeing as I still have 20.04 LTS on the same laptop, I will use that system to connect with the Android phone - watching any updates on either side...
Thanks again.

[claydoh]

uninstalling the app from the computer won't remove any existing pairings as this action does not touch any user config files, so in this case does nothing to remove any existing pairings.

This may be the case on the phone, which is why I mentioned deleting the app's data, via the phone's settings App manager section - usually under the app's Storage section.

[hstoellinger]

How would I remove any pairings? I don't see ANY active ones on EITHER side. KDEConnect on the Android side doesn't "see" any devices, and neither does KDEConnect on the laptop side. Maybe I am missing something here?

[claydoh]

No it's probably ok but on the phone the only way to be sure that old pairings and their encryption/security keys don't stick around is to clear app data.

On the computer if you don't see any phones detected or paired in System Settings you should be ok there.

It is just that uninstalling a program on linux does not delete any user settings or data so that process won't remove any existing pairings etc.


Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[hstoellinger]

No it's probably ok but on the phone the only way to be sure that old pairings and their encryption/security keys don't stick around is to clear app data.

On the computer if you don't see any phones detected or paired in System Settings you should be ok there.

It is just that uninstalling a program on linux does not delete any user settings or data so that process won't remove any existing pairings etc.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

I would have thought that on Linux, doing an "apt purge packet-name" would get rid of config data, correct?
Regarding the Android device: Where are the app data of kdeconnect? I supposed I could delete them with Total Commander, if I knew WHERE.
Thanks for your help

[claydoh]

I would have thought that on Linux, doing an "apt purge packet-name" would get rid of config data, correct?

Incorrect. User settings and data are never removed. These are stored in your home dir, not in any system level location, and purging only removes any system level files and data. Never anything in the home dir.

Regarding the Android device: Where are the app data of kdeconnect? I supposed I could delete them with Total Commander, if I knew WHERE.
Thanks for your help

Your phone's settings app, usually in the notification pull-down area, or in your app drawer, will have an Applications section somewhere.
Some phones will have things in different locations
https://thedroidguy.com/clear-samsun...oid-10-1124630
The above is for samsung, but use the 'clear data' button. LG phones are very similar

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-a...r-data-android

But for me, I just have to long-press the kdeconnect icon in my app drawer and select the 'info' option, then select the 'storage' to get there.

[hstoellinger]

Incorrect. User settings and data are never removed. These are stored in your home dir, not in any system level location, and purging only removes any system level files and data. Never anything in the home dir.

Your phone's settings app, usually in the notification pull-down area, or in your app drawer, will have an Applications section somewhere.
Some phones will have things in different locations
https://thedroidguy.com/clear-samsun...oid-10-1124630
The above is for samsung, but use the 'clear data' button. LG phones are very similar

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-a...r-data-android

But for me, I just have to long-press the kdeconnect icon in my app drawer and select the 'info' option, then select the 'storage' to get there.

Thanks!
I deleted the storage on the phone (like you mentioned), then de/re-installed kdeconnect on the phone, got rid of everything under ~/.config/kdeconnect on Linux, then re-installed kdeconnect on Linux. Still - no change.

[hstoellinger]

Thanks!
I deleted the storage on the phone (like you mentioned), then de/re-installed kdeconnect on the phone, got rid of everything under ~/.config/kdeconnect on Linux, then re-installed kdeconnect on Linux. Still - no change.

Hello again...
I now installed the newest versions of kdeconnect on my Android phone (from f-droid) as well as purged and re-installed it on Kubuntu 20.10. Then I tried to call kdeconnect-settings
from the laptop's command line. It "hangs". Also, starting the KDE-GUI does NOT show the settings page but displays a completely empty page. My feeling is that there is something wrong/missing on my Kubuntu 20.10 system. Again - everything works fiine on Kubuntu 20.04.
I am lost for ideas!