Kde connect works fine most of the time to share clipboard, send files, etc

I had a look into KDE connect out of interest, but found it to be quite lacking in functionality for iOS. The limitations likely stem from Apple's locked down approach to their OS and security, but the limitations remain.

https://userbase.kde.org/KDEConnect#Missing_or_limited_featu...

It's quite easy with kdeconnect.

Except it requires VPN when not on the same LAN for some reason...

How should it work? Send everything through a central server? Try to hole-punch through NAT? Ubiquitous IPv6 might help, but we're not there yet.

A self-hostend STUN/TURN server maybe? I don't know but I'm def not installing a VPN for this. Considering I might have another one already running. The issues that would arise from this are numerous.

Yeah that's been easy for a few years now. Kdeconnect works great/it's been available on Linux since well before windows got it.

I don't trust the definition of "easy" from a Linux man. For me easy means logging into my iCloud account and having it work by default.

It's even easier than that; you don't even have to setup an account.

When your devices are on the same network, you can just request pairing on one device and accept pairing on the other. Done.