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Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC

snapdrop.net

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

#61

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.

Do you have any more information on that? Is there already a repo or something I can follow?

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

#63
post #55

It's not really an AirDrop equivalent if it requires you to be on the same network. AirDrop is really useful when you're out and about somewhere and you want to send someone a file. In those cases there's possibly not a WiFi available or in the case of visitors to your home; only you are on the network, not your friend. So I would not see the point of using this instead of AirDrop unless you have to send a file to so…

To be fair, AirDrop requires you to be on the same network as well, as otherwise the devices don't have any way of communicating. If you're already on the same WiFi, it'll use WiFi but if not, it'll connect to each other via Bluetooth (eg, connecting to the same network [a network of two devices]), but the setup of the connection is automatic.

Maybe Snapdrop can do something similar with the new Bluetooth Web APIs.

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

#64
post #30

Is there a static, single html version of this? So I can host it on my cheap OpenWRT router with minimal effort.

It's not a SPA that can run without a backend, so no. Most of the clients will need to connect via the backend which is currently run at wss://snapdrop.net/server/webrtc. Without it, they won't be able to penetrate NAT and will be unreachable.

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

#66

Is there an audio chat equivalent of this? When I'm playing networked games with my kids from separate rooms, we often have to resort to overkill utilities like Whatsapp / Discord / etc.

Telegram added a group voice chat feature yesterday. Please check if that works for you. It worked for me well.

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

#67

Is there an audio chat equivalent of this? When I'm playing networked games with my kids from separate rooms, we often have to resort to overkill utilities like Whatsapp / Discord / etc.

Teamspeak (or ventrilo) used to be the way to go when I was into online multiplayer games (~10 years ago). Not in browser, but low latency and extremely low resource requirements (definitely less than one browser tab; we have tried Skype back then as well, but it was using too much recorded for the computers we had back then, especially if there was more than 2 people on the call). You could host teamspeak server yourself on your local LAN. Not sure if there is some easy discovery mechanism or you would need to know the local IP (and ideally set up static DHCP for the "server").

I imagine WebRTC might require some sort of server as well, so I don't think you can get something purely in browser on all machines, but if you learn about anything let me know!

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

#68
post #55

It's not really an AirDrop equivalent if it requires you to be on the same network. AirDrop is really useful when you're out and about somewhere and you want to send someone a file. In those cases there's possibly not a WiFi available or in the case of visitors to your home; only you are on the network, not your friend. So I would not see the point of using this instead of AirDrop unless you have to send a file to so…

this issue is solvable with relay server

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

#69

I really don't understand HN's obsession with webrtc based file sharing tools. 1 of these is posted every 6 months or so, Every version of it is doing more or less the same thing and every time it gets to the front page and stays on it for a while. What's happening?

I guess they seem to solve a common difficulty (cross-device file sharing), but in the end they are not good enough to be widely adopted, and they get forgotten.

The main feature that's missing from all these services is: integration into whatever messaging application the user is already using (email, Whatsapp, ...)

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

#70
post #55

It's not really an AirDrop equivalent if it requires you to be on the same network. AirDrop is really useful when you're out and about somewhere and you want to send someone a file. In those cases there's possibly not a WiFi available or in the case of visitors to your home; only you are on the network, not your friend. So I would not see the point of using this instead of AirDrop unless you have to send a file to so…

To be fair, AirDrop requires you to be on the same network as well, as otherwise the devices don't have any way of communicating. If you're already on the same WiFi, it'll use WiFi but if not, it'll connect to each other via Bluetooth (eg, connecting to the same network [a network of two devices]), but the setup of the connection is automatic. Maybe Snapdrop can do something similar with the new Bluetooth Web APIs.

False. AirDrop does discovery via bluetooth, but then sets up an ad-hoc WiFi connection directly between devices to transmit data. No network required.
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