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Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
101–110 of 150 posts
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#102I find it so insane that in 2023 you still have to be on Apple to have the following experience: * I have a file on a device I own. * I wish to send it to another device. * I send it. On Windows, it is still regularly true that the easiest way to send X from one laptop to another one, FIVE FEET AWAY, is via Dropbox or Gmail. This was technically easy twenty years ago. It's a concrete proof that collective action prob…
windows 11 now has nearby devices in the share-sheet . https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/share-things-wit... You're right it's still not yet widely adopted and is less mature than Airdrop. I think so many attacks on CIFS occurred ~ 2000-2015 that local sharing was locked down into oblivion.
> windows 11 now has nearby devices in the share-sheet
That sounds great, but after reading this...
> you can share over Wi-Fi if the Windows 10/11 PC you’re sharing to is connected to the same private Wi-Fi network. Otherwise, *you can share over Bluetooth.* (emphasis mine)
Bluetooth file sharing is one of the most frustrating, painfully slow experiences (on Windows, at least), to date. It frequently randomly disconnects, all while taking hours to transfer small files. Nobody ever uses this, or if they do, they don't want to.
I'm surprised file sharing is so bad when so many breakthroughs have been made in Bluetooth, and wireless networking tech in general. It seems wrong that we're now on WiFi 6E, and this is still a thing.
P.S. Is the protocol for Nearby Sharing public? It would be a great shame to lock this behind Windows -- it could be a very good solution in the end.
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Am I missing something? The submission under which you posted this comment literally solves the problem you're complaining about, and directly contradicts the claim "you still have to be on Apple" for this experience.
If you’re not on Apple you and the recipient have to happen to have agree on and install same one of 37 different ways to do this. It’s not seamless.
That's a feature, not a bug. Why should I have to be locked in to a proprietary file sharing mechanism that my device manufacturer unilaterally declares I must use?
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#104Check out LocalSend - it's multi platform. I use this all the time.
It's not an Airdrop competitor if it doesn't even meet the basic requirement of Airdrop - to be able to arbitrarily send a file to someone without being on the same network.
I only ever see to send files between my devices in the same network, using Airdrop, so LocalSend does the job for me...
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#105I find it so insane that in 2023 you still have to be on Apple to have the following experience: * I have a file on a device I own. * I wish to send it to another device. * I send it. On Windows, it is still regularly true that the easiest way to send X from one laptop to another one, FIVE FEET AWAY, is via Dropbox or Gmail. This was technically easy twenty years ago. It's a concrete proof that collective action prob…
I dunno, I use Bluetooth to send files regularly, and it seems alright. The only reason I do this is because it doesn't really require anything particularly special, though it's not particularly fast.
Other than that, there's so many ways to send files that it's hard to pick one as an obvious "best" way to go. However, for something that is reasonably versatile and noob friendly, I pick Wormhole.app. Anything with a modern web browser can use Wormhole.app just fine. I can't speak to how much good its 'end-to-end encryption' is, but it does seem like it mixes some of the best of all worlds for point-to-point file sharing, allowing direct connections but also allowing temporary storage in the someone-else's-computer too.
Of course, will Wormhole.app be around in 10 years? Dunno. I also frequently use Tailscale, rsync, SMB shares, etc. for different purposes. Of course this is only fair as sometimes I'm sending files for different reasons, and I would never use Airdrop to do all of those things, so it's not like it's fair to say the fact that I don't use one solution is an indication that there is some big failure.
Airdrop is indeed convenient, but it being hard to audit does make me a little nervous about stuff like that. There's a lot of reason to be at least a little cautious[1]. Of course, there's no single alternative that is installed by default, has a better track record and more auditability, so I think it's hard to just say that this nullifies any benefits of Airdrop.
It is indeed a bit madness that there are so many options and none of them are the "obvious" right way to go. I think this is a problem that can and will be solved eventually though. Miracast is slowly solving the problem of having a "remote" display as I effortlessly can cast my Linux desktop to a random Samsung TV just by being in close proximity; We basically need a lot of parties to agree to something like that but for point-to-point file sharing.
It's probable that security concerns, though, are indeed one of the main reasons why this continues to be difficult.
[1]: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/12/tech/china-apple-airdrop-user...
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#106I find it so insane that in 2023 you still have to be on Apple to have the following experience: * I have a file on a device I own. * I wish to send it to another device. * I send it. On Windows, it is still regularly true that the easiest way to send X from one laptop to another one, FIVE FEET AWAY, is via Dropbox or Gmail. This was technically easy twenty years ago. It's a concrete proof that collective action prob…
i do this all the time with KDE Connect
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not an Airdrop competitor if it doesn't even meet the basic requirement of Airdrop - to be able to arbitrarily send a file to someone without being on the same network.
I only ever see to send files between my devices in the same network, using Airdrop, so LocalSend does the job for me...
I understand that, and LocalSend looks great for what it does. But AirDrop is so insanely useful to many of us because it allows us to share a large file with a person, regardless of whether we are on the same network or whether there is a network at all. If you need that and you can't, it's quite frustrating.
The original post was about being an AirDrop alternative, which it really wasn't.
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you’re not on Apple you and the recipient have to happen to have agree on and install same one of 37 different ways to do this. It’s not seamless.
That's a feature, not a bug. Why should I have to be locked in to a proprietary file sharing mechanism that my device manufacturer unilaterally declares I must use?
Some things are better universally. That bad part is proprietary. It would be best if it was universal and open.
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#109KDE Connect has been around for at least 5 years : https://apps.kde.org/kdeconnect/ . It is quiet amazing and does way more than only file transfert : clipboard sharing, multimedia control, ping, messages, remote keyboard/mouse, etc.
KDE Connect has definetly made my life easier in school. I could just photo scan files with my phone and drop them on my 2in1 for editing. KDE Connect does require all devices to be in the same network, however, for which I needed to create a hotspot to get that "just works" feel
Re: Show HN: I made an app people call "Airdrop for Android"
#110I find it so insane that in 2023 you still have to be on Apple to have the following experience: * I have a file on a device I own. * I wish to send it to another device. * I send it. On Windows, it is still regularly true that the easiest way to send X from one laptop to another one, FIVE FEET AWAY, is via Dropbox or Gmail. This was technically easy twenty years ago. It's a concrete proof that collective action prob…
You wish to send it to another apple device.