Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

I am very impressed and added it to my favorites immediately.

I am working on an open source framework which connects nodes for collaboration and p2p transfer. I started off with WebRTC at the core but have since made it optional transport due to lack of portability. Snapdrop is amazing but if you give up on WebRTC you can use QR code for discovery and transfer files even when not on the same network.

Simply by grouping clients into rooms by their public IP.

> You can be discovered by everyone on this network

Assumption here being that the devices on the same network are all NAT'd behind the same public IP, which usually holds true.

See the server code for designating rooms & peers: https://github.com/RobinLinus/snapdrop/blob/master/server/in...

Can also test that there is no "discovery" beyond public IP grouping by turning off wifi on your mobile and joining from mobile network.

Short answer is - Airdrop is a protocol for setting up ad-hoc wifi networks via Bluetooth LE. If it went over ethernet it wouldn't be airdrop.

Long answer:

Airdrop does discovery via bluetooth. To send a file, the two devices connect via bluetooth to negotiate the details of a new ad-hoc wifi connection, which they then create, connect to, and use for the transfer.

The discovery does not rely on a shared network, and once connected, the devices never 'discuss' whether they already share a network, so it's WIFI or nothing.

This gives some security guarantees that wouldn't exist otherwise. EG: Airdrop won't go through Starbucks' WIFI, even if both the sender & receiver are connected to it. Honestly I'm not sure how important those guarantees are -- but they're there.

I don't think there's a fundamental barrier stopping Apple from:

1. Having devices advertise an 'airdrop-box' through Bonjour as well as though bluetooth LE,

2. Including these entires in the Airdrop UI

3. De-duping entries where it figures out that a network device is the same as a bluetooth device.

4. Running same-network transfers through SMB rather than using [what they currently call] Airdrop to negotiate an ad-hoc WIFI network.

...but they haven't done so.

This looks great!

Small nitpick about the wording of this:

"Notifications permission has been blocked as the user has dismissed the permission prompt several times. This can be reset in Page Info which can be accessed by clicking the lock icon next to the URL."

I have Safari set to not allow websites to ask for notification privileges at all and did not see a single prompt. And I don't think you can toggle it from the lock icon.