Phone

Pair your iPhone or Android phone once, then see its notifications, take calls and answer texts on lensOS.

Phone (Super + P, or Phone in the app menu) brings your phone’s notifications, calls, texts, contacts and music to the computer. It works over Bluetooth, the way a car kit or a smartwatch does, so there’s nothing to install on the phone. It’s new: tell us what doesn’t work.

Pair your phone

Open Phone (the first time, it walks you through this) or Settings → Phone, pick iPhone or Android, and keep the phone close to the computer.

iPhone

  1. Click Start pairing. The computer shows up under its name (shown in the window) for 3 minutes.
  2. On the iPhone, open Settings → Bluetooth and make sure Bluetooth is on.
  3. Under Other Devices, tap the computer.
  4. Check that the iPhone shows the same code as the window on the computer, then tap Pair. If the iPhone asks to share notifications, tap Allow.
  5. Tap ⓘ next to the computer and turn on Share System Notifications, Show Notifications (for texts) and Sync Contacts.

Android

  1. Click Start pairing. The computer shows up under its name for 3 minutes.
  2. On the phone, open Settings → Connected devices → Pair new device (on some phones, Settings → Bluetooth).
  3. Tap the computer.
  4. Check that both show the same code, then tap Pair.
  5. If the phone asks, allow access to your contacts, call history and messages.

Paired the phone in Settings → Bluetooth already? It’s listed under Already paired with this computer: click Use this phone.

What it does

Messagesyour conversations, and a box to answer (Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line)
Callsan incoming call pops up at the top of the screen: Answer, Decline, or answer with a quick text. During a call: mute, a keypad, hang up. Music pauses while it rings. Recent calls and a keypad to dial are in the app
Notificationswhat’s on the phone, with its own buttons (Clear, Answer…); new ones pop up like any other and land in the notification sidebar
ContactsA to Z with photos: call or text them
Musicwhat’s playing on the phone, with play, pause and skip

Choose what the phone shares in Settings → Phone. Nothing runs in the background until a phone is paired.

What phones allow

  • iPhone: texts show up from when the computer connects; older ones, photos and group chats aren’t shared (Apple’s limit). Everything else works.
  • Android: calls, texts, contacts and music work now; Android notifications come in a later update.

If it doesn’t work

  • The computer doesn’t show up on the phone: click Start pairing again with the phone’s Bluetooth settings already open, and keep it close. Check that Bluetooth is on in Settings → Bluetooth.
  • Notifications, texts or contacts say “Waiting for the phone”: on an iPhone, turn on the switches from step 5. Then lock and unlock the phone.
  • Calls don’t come through: make sure the phone isn’t sending calls to AirPods or a car.
  • Start over: Settings → Phone → Forget this phone, remove the phone in Settings → Bluetooth, and on the phone, forget the computer in its Bluetooth settings. Then pair again.
  • Still stuck? Run lensos-phone report in a terminal and send us what it prints. It shows what each part sees and what went wrong, without any texts, contacts or notifications.
  • The battery says “about”: over the calls connection, phones only send a rough battery level (in steps of 20%). When an iPhone also shares notifications, it can send the exact level.

← Settings