How to Use
Bounce Connect

Download Bounce Connect for Mac and Bounce Companion for Android. Install both applications on your respective devices.

• Mac app requires macOS 11 Big Sur or later
• Android app requires Android 8.0 Oreo or higher
• Both devices must be connected to the same WiFi network

Open both apps and use the QR code scanner to connect your devices securely.

• Launch Bounce Connect on your Mac
• Open Bounce Companion on your Android device
• Tap "Pair New Device" on Android and scan the QR code shown on Mac
• Wait for the secure handshake to complete
• Grant necessary permissions when prompted

Bounce Companion requires specific, granular Android system permissions to power its cross-device continuity. Enable them all to unlock the full ecosystem.

• Notification Access (Special): Crucial for mirroring active Android apps to macOS.
• SMS & MMS: Required to retrieve conversational history and transmit native replies.
• Phone & Call Logs: Required to trigger macOS popups during incoming calls and resolve caller identities.
• Contacts Access: Necessary to display real names instead of bare numbers on your Mac.
• Storage / Manage Files: Required to enable large file transfers and the Remote File Browser functionality.
• Post Notifications (Android 13+): Required to maintain the persistent background connection service.

📊 1. Contextual Dashboard

Provides a single pane of glass to monitor your Android phone's battery life, active network connection, and available storage.

• How it works: Open the Bounce Mac app to instantly see your phone's live hardware status. Toggle active features and monitor connection health.
• Limitations: Battery readings may occasionally delay by a few seconds due to Android OS background optimizations.

💬 2. iMessage-Style SMS

View and send SMS messages from multiple threads directly from your desktop.

• How it works: Navigate to the Messages tab to view all existing SMS threads. Compose new messages and natively select which SIM card to use for sending (Dual-SIM support).
• Limitations: Currently supports standard SMS only. Rich media (MMS) photo attachments in standard messaging threads are not fully supported.

📞 3. Smart Call Management

Track incoming, active, and missed calls with granular caller ID integration.

• How it works: Native macOS notification appears instantly for Cellular and WhatsApp calls. Click Accept or Decline directly from your Mac screen.
• Limitations: Audio routing is not supported. Accepting a call on Mac will answer it on your Android phone's current audio route (e.g., Bluetooth earbuds or speaker).

🔔 4. Unified Notifications

All pushed Android notifications seamlessly centralized on your Mac desktop.

• How it works: Reply inline to WhatsApp, Telegram, and Messages via a native input field. Dismissing a notification on Mac wipes it cleanly from your Android phone drop-down.
• Limitations: Dismissal is unidirectional. Swiping away a notification natively on your Android limits remote-deletion synchronization from restoring Mac's history logic.

📋 5. Universal Clipboard

Access cross-device clipboard history with effortless native syncing.

• How it works: Mac-to-Android: Copy text or images on Mac; it automatically appears in Android's clipboard buffer. Android-to-Mac: Highlight text on Android, tap 'Share', and select Bounce.
• Limitations: Due to strict Android background app restrictions, Android-to-Mac sync is limited to text blocks only.

📁 6. Wireless File Transfer

Send massive files back and forth rapidly without cables or cloud storage.

• How it works: Mac-to-Android: Drag and drop files from Finder directly into the Mac app UI. Android-to-Mac: Select files in your gallery, tap Share, and beam them to your Mac.
• Limitations: Devices must naturally be on the same local Wi-Fi subnet router (or Hotspot network).

👥 7. Native Contacts Sync

Directly interact with your address book synced securely from your phone.

• How it works: Search seamlessly through your contacts via the Mac app sidebar. Click a contact to instantly dial them, initiate an SMS thread, or view details.
• Limitations: Contacts are strictly Read-Only from the Mac. Adding or editing entries must be natively performed on the phone itself.

🔒 8. Secure Encrypted Pairing

Frictionless connection handshake utilizing military-grade cryptography.

• How it works: Mac app auto-generates a rapid QR payload. Snap the QR code using the Companion app. Establishes an AES-256 encrypted WebSocket tunnel instantly.
• Limitations: Highly segmented corporate firewalls occasionally block Bonjour/mDNS packets, requiring the fallback manual IP configuration logic algorithm.

🔗 9. Continuity Link Sharing

Pass live webpages directly between your desktop and mobile environments.

• How it works: Mac-to-Android: Push current Safari/Chrome tabs via the macOS Share Extension. Android-to-Mac: Send browser links to macOS utilizing the Android Share menu.
• Limitations: The macOS Share Extension must be manually enabled via System settings for the Mac-to-Android injection utility wrapper to function.

🗄️ 10. Remote File Browser

Browse, fetch, and organize your raw Android filesystem securely from Mac.

• How it works: Navigate Android directories like internal storage (DCIM, Downloads) directly from the beautiful Mac interface UI. Highlight items and trigger a rapid wireless pull payload to your natively macOS Desktop.
• Limitations: To safeguard security paradigms, strict inaccessible protected Android OS directories cannot be browsed natively.

🔋 11. Smart WiFi Lock

Save massive amounts of battery by only establishing a connection when you are on specific, trusted WiFi networks.

• How it works: In the Android app settings, select your home or work WiFi network as a "Locked Network". Bounce Companion will completely shut down its background scanning when you leave this network to preserve battery.
• Limitations: You must remember to connect to the selected WiFi network when you want to use Bounce Connect, as it will explicitly ignore all other networks.

❌ Devices Not Connecting

• Ensure both devices are on the same WiFi network
• Check that Bounce Connect is running on both devices
• Try unpairing and re-pairing with a new QR code
• Verify your firewall isn't blocking the connection
• Restart both apps and try again
• Long press the app icon and click on app settings and click on battery and disable battery optimization for the app/ allow background usage

📱 Not Receiving Notifications

• Go to Android Settings → Apps → Bounce Companion
• Verify "Notification Access" permission is granted
• Check that the feature is enabled in the Android app dashboard
• Ensure the Android app is running in the background
• Disable battery optimization for Bounce Companion
• Long press the app icon and click on app settings and click on battery and disable battery optimization for the app/ allow background usage

🔌 Connection Drops Frequently

• Ensure a stable WiFi connection on both devices
• Long press the app icon and click on app settings and click on battery and disable battery optimization for the app/ allow background usage
• Check if your router has connection limits or security settings
• Move devices closer to the WiFi router if signal is weak

End-to-End Encryption

All communication between your Mac and Android device is encrypted using AES-256-GCM encryption, the same standard used by banks and military organizations.

No Cloud Storage

Your data never leaves your devices. All messages, notifications, and files are transmitted directly between your Mac and Android over your local WiFi network. No data is stored on external servers.

Secure Key Management

Encryption keys are stored securely in macOS Keychain and never transmitted in plain text. When you unpair devices, all keys are immediately deleted.

• Keys are generated during initial pairing
• Stored in macOS Keychain with hardware encryption
• Never transmitted over the network
• Automatically deleted when devices are unpaired