Is there a way to answer phone calls from my ubuntu 20?

Question

Microsoft windows has an app called your phone which integrates your android phone and pc and allows us to view photos,screenshots,notifications,sms and answer calls. Since many months,I have been searching for a similar app for ubuntu but I am unable to find such thing.I used things like kde connect but it does not allow me to answer calls.

Answer 1

There is no such Linux or Ubuntu application at this time to link your Android phone or tablet to a Linux computer to handle calls, texts, notifications, etc. Samsung had initially experimented with a Linux variant of their DeX integration, but abandoned it to be windows only.

There is no way to do that interception on Linux, but if you connect your phone to Linux you can use scrcpy to 'mirror' your screen onto your Linux system, thereby 'controlling' the Android device for texts, etc. however that all requires local connectivity and is entirely still run 'on the phone' rather than offloading/linking to the Linux environment - this also means calls, etc. still have to be handled on that phone.

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One possibility might be GSConnect, which is an implementation of KDE Connect as a GNOME extension, might work, but I haven't heard any positive feedback from anyone on whether it works without root.

It supposedly works with the KDE Connect application on the Android side, however it has a requisite of being on the same wifi network as your other device running it (Bluetooth is not an option for pairing in the KDE Connect app on the Android side). There may also be firewall restrictions if you run a firewall on your machine, but I haven't fully tested this to see if this is a solution to actually route and handle calls, etc. from your Android device to a computer.

Answer 2

I am posting here a complete solution for the two-fold problem you are posing:

1. Connect audio from Android to Ubuntu.
2. Control your Android device, including phone calls from Ubuntu.

Connect audio

This is somewhat straightforward via bluetooth. If you don't have a bluetooth adapter, you can purchase a dongle, which is quite cheap.

Follow these steps:

1. Install the following packages if needed (you most likely have them)

    $ sudo apt install pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils pavucontrol pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
   

2. Pair your phone with your Ubuntu.

3. It might be working right away. If not, edit ~/.config/pulse/system.pa to add

    .include /etc/pulse/system.pa
    load-module module-bluetooth-policy
    load-module module-bluetooth-discover
   

   and execute

    $ sudo systemctl restart bluetooth
   

   If this doesn't work, try rebooting.

4. If this doesn't work yet, add to ~/.config/pulse/system.pa the following line:

    load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0
   

   and reboot.

Sources:

1. https://ostechnix.com/turn-your-linux-pc-into-bluetooth-speakers-for-your-phone/

Control the android device from Ubuntu

AirDorid can be used to control quite a few features in an Android phone, including File transfer, SMSs, etc. I did not try it myself, but I read various sources stating that this includes handling phone calls. YMMV. Using the sound devices of your Ubuntu is described above. In this sense, it could be a better option than GSConnect/KDEConnect.

To use AirDroid:

1. Install AirDroid in your phone and launch it.
2. Set an IP <x.x.x.x> in your phone, for accessing in a web browser.
3. Visit http://x.x.x.x:8888 in your Ubuntu web browser.

Sources:

1. Making calls through the smartphone using the PC
2. https://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2012/02/airdroid-access-your-android-phone-from.html
3. https://www.maketecheasier.com/airdroid-connect-android-phone-to-linux/