A new open-source project called BlueFerry brings iMessage and SMS from an iPhone straight to the Linux desktop – over a pure Bluetooth connection. It works without a Mac as a relay, and without a cloud service, proxy, Apple login or subscription.
Once the iPhone is paired with the Linux machine, incoming messages appear on the desktop and you can reply directly from a conversation. The project synchronises contacts and can optionally mirror other iPhone notifications. There are native clients for GNOME, KDE and Quickshell – all of which use the same local backend, so pairing info, contacts, preferences and history are shared across the interfaces.
How it works technically
BlueFerry relies on established Bluetooth profiles: MAP over OBEX handles messages, inbox queries, read state and sending; PBAP over OBEX provides contacts in vCard format; and the Apple Notification Center Service over Bluetooth LE can supply additional notifications.
Limitations
Importantly, BlueFerry only knows messages received since pairing – so it cannot browse or download an existing iCloud message history. Also unsupported are attachments, reactions, typing indicators, FaceTime, calls and the complete history of sent messages. Even so, for simply reading along and replying from a Linux machine, it is a remarkably self-contained solution. The code is on GitHub.
Sources: Linuxiac, BlueFerry on GitHub.
