ClipCross
A lightweight LAN shared clipboard between a Windows PC and an Android phone — a small, fast alternative to Windows Phone Link for copying text, images and files between devices.
- PC: Go system-tray app. Single ~11 MB
.exe, no runtime to install. - Android: native Kotlin app. ~6 MB APK.
- Transport: one TLS port on the LAN carrying a WebSocket control channel + HTTPS file transfer. The phone finds the PC via mDNS; pairing is a QR scan.
- No cloud. Everything stays on your local network.
Status — feature complete (v1)
All phases built and verified on Android 14:
| Feature | phone → PC | PC → phone |
|---|---|---|
| Text clipboard | Share sheet / tile / button | Auto (tap-to-copy notification) |
| Image clipboard | Share sheet | Auto (inline / HTTPS) |
| File transfer | Share sheet → HTTPS | Tray “Send file…” → HTTPS, saved to Downloads/ClipCross |
| Open link on other device | Share → “Open link on PC” | Tray “Open clipboard link on phone” |
| Clipboard history (last 20) | Phone history screen | Tray “Recent” submenu |
| Run at login | — | Tray “Start with Windows” |
Footprint: PC idle working set ≈ 22 MB (vs Phone Link’s hundreds of MB across processes); windowless stripped exe ≈ 8 MB. Android APK ≈ 6 MB.
Sync model
Hybrid, chosen to fit Android’s clipboard rules (Android 10+ blocks background clipboard access):
- PC → phone: automatic. Sets the clipboard when the app is foreground; else posts a “tap to copy” notification.
- phone → PC: manual push via the Android Share Sheet, a Quick Settings tile, or an in-app button (content arrives through the share intent, so no restricted clipboard read is needed).
Auto-generated from the GitHub repository.