How do you make Ubuntu accept files sent over bluetooth

Go to Dash Home search for personal file sharing. If you don't have Unity installed, you can open the program from a terminal with typing gnome-file-share-properties in it.

At the bottom of the box enable Receive files in downloads folder over bluetooth also enable Notify about received file then you're good to go :)

[Updated answer tested on Ubuntu 16.04]

I have found that simply installing blueman and using the blueman applet works well:

1. Install blueman:

   sudo apt-get install blueman
   

2. Run the applet:

   /usr/bin/blueman-applet
   

3. Pair your device using the applet

Sharing from your phone should "just work".

NOTE: If the phone tries to send, but immediately fails, it may be a folder-permissions issue. Files sent via bluetooth are downloaded temporarily to ~/.cache/obexd, and if the owner/permissions of this folder aren't set correctly, the files can't be downloaded there and the transfer fails. Changing the folder's ownership and/or permissions so that your non-root account has read/write access to it should fix the problem.

[Original answer:]

For non-gnome/unity desktop-environments (Xmonad, XFCE, LXDE, etc.), the following works (tested on 15.04):

1. Make sure you have the necessary dependencies installed:

   sudo apt-get install obex-data-server gnome-user-share
   

2. Run gnome-file-share-properties from the command-line, and make sure Receive files in downloads folder over bluetooth and Notify about received file are enabled.

3. Create a file ~/bin/start-bluetooth-listener which contains the following (the order is important):

   #!/bin/sh
   /usr/bin/obex-data-server
   /usr/lib/gnome-user-share/gnome-user-share &
   

   (create the~/bin directory first if it doesn't already exist)

4. Make the file executable:

   chmod +x ~/bin/start-bluetooth-listener
   

5. Either manually run the ~/bin/start-bluetooth-listener script, or set up your desktop-environment to automatically run the script when you log-in (e.g. in XFCE, via the xfce4-session-settings tool).

Now if you try to send a file from your phone to your paired computer via bluetooth, it should work, and pop up a notification window after the file has been received.

On Ubuntu 20.04, remember that you have to keep the Bluetooth Settings open in order to receive files, otherwise Ubuntu will reject all transfers.

go to bluetooth sittings and pair your device and choose the device that you want to send or connect audio speaker set shown and put sign on ( use your phone as, and send or play music