Receiving notifications to your PC from your Android mobile phone

After receiving a number of complaints from my fiancé, complaining that I never respond to SMS messages received, I thought I’d do a bit of searching and try to discover whether it was possible for my mobile phone to let my PC know when there was something happening on it.

Clearly, due to the fact that I have just written a blog post about the above, means that I have found such an application. It is called “Remote Notifier”, and the basic premise is that it allows your phone to send notifications through to your PC, to notify you of any significant events happening on your phone. Such events include an incoming call, a new SMS, and battery level indicators.

There is also an option that allows external applications to send through notifications, should they feel the need to do so. However, I have yet to have one of my installed applications use Remote Notifier to do so.

Where can I get it from?

There are two parts to the application that you’ll need to get. Firstly, you’ll need to download the mobile application that runs on your cellphone. This can be done by scanning the QR code below, or searching for “remote notifier” in the Android Marketplace.

In addition to the mobile application, you’ll need to download the desktop notification application. This is the application that will run on your PC, and receive the notifications sent via your mobile phone. You can view the application’s homepage at http://code.google.com/p/android-notifier/. From what I can see, the desktop notifier is available for Linux, Apples, and Windows (I’m running it on Ubuntu 10.04, and it runs like a dream).

How do I set it up?

Setting up this application is quite easy. You have a variety of options available to customize the application. You can choose the method through which you’ll be notified of events happening on your phone. These events range from incoming calls to SMS messages and low battery warnings.

You’re able to select one of two methods through which you can be notified – through your wireless network, or through Bluetooth. There is also a USB option, however, this still needs to be implemented, and so is currently unavailable.

And the desktop application?

Once you’ve downloaded the desktop notification application, you’ll able to customize the methods through which you’ll receive notifications, as well as the way in which the notification messages will be displayed (System default, Growl, or Libnotify) on your PC. Once again, you’ll be able to fine-tune which events you’ll be listening for, as well as which devices you will be allowing the status messages to be displayed from.

Once you think you have everything set up, there is a the ability to send test notifications between your phone and your PC. These test notifications are very useful when trying to get it set up. It took me a few tries before I managed to get my set working 100%. The best part of it? I no longer miss my fiancé’s SMS messages anymore!