Live data from Hacker News

Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

snapdrop.net

11–20 of 155 posts

Re: Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

#11
post #3

> You are known as Azure Bug Ok, that’s cute. I would perhaps delay showing the funny name until at least one other machine is detected, it makes it feel like my name is being broadcast over the public Internet for anyone to connect to, and not just a LAN connection, the way it is. But worked perfectly for me to send a few photos back and forth. LAN connections seem like the perfect application for WebRTC not having…

It looks like the server could easily be expanded to allow you to enter the other person's ID and send to them over WAN

Re: Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

#12
post #2

this has been around for four years?! Awesome! Would like to see the faq more easily accessible for troubleshooting. Was not able to send jpgs the first few tries

There have been hundreds of these type of WebRTC file transfer sites. They never seem to work very well.

It looks like this one is sending all the traffic through a single nodeJS worker. Not surprising.

Re: Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

#16
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is 100% the thing apple does that google absolutely refuses to de-intermediate themselves out of. apple allows direct bluetooth discovery, google 100% insists on closed proprietary "android nearby" systems to find local devices. neither release protocols or standards to interoperate on.

Why can't I Airdrop from my phone to my MacMini thats connected via ethernet cable. They are on the same network, and verified with other tools, but AirDrop has to be done over wifi for what reason?

Because AirDrop doesn't use your local network at all, it creates a direct peer-to-peer wifi connection between the two Apple devices. It has no way to do that via an ethernet cable.

Re: Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

#17
post #14

As a practical matter, I find Signal's "Note to Self" extremely useful for private across-devices sharing.

Yup. I have been using it a lot. Didn't realize it even exited until I installed the desktop client and it showed up in contacts.

They need some good PR on that feature.

Re: Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

#18
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't I Airdrop from my phone to my MacMini thats connected via ethernet cable. They are on the same network, and verified with other tools, but AirDrop has to be done over wifi for what reason?

Because AirDrop doesn't use your local network at all, it creates a direct peer-to-peer wifi connection between the two Apple devices. It has no way to do that via an ethernet cable.

To add to this, if you’re connected via Ethernet but your WiFi is on ( doesn’t need to be connected to any network ), AirDrop will still work.
Post reply on HN