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Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

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Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#231

Post by bear330 »

eigenspace wrote: post #28

My problem is that all these alternatives require the devices to be on the same local network. One beauty of Airdrop is that it creates and handles that local network automatically under the hood (as far as I understand). So you could be out on a hike with friends and Airdrop something. The workaround I've found after switching to an Android device has been to teather my connection to my friend's device, which ends u…

Maybe you can try this: https://github.com/nuwainfo/ffl

It's Android App don't need LAN to share: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fastfileli...

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#233

Post by max8539 »

Asmod4n wrote: post #154
max8539 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, should there be apps that use it to transfer files between iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac without requiring them to be on the same network?

No WiFi cards for pcs support it.

Researched this for a bit: there is some hardware for PCI supporting it, but Windows 10/11 not, and Linux is still work in progress, so no real support on OS level, only for some iOS/Android devices.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#234

Post by landr0id »

eigenspace wrote: post #110
satvikpendem wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iroh is a relay protocol for peer to peer transfers over the Internet so it doesn't have this problem, check out my other comment here about wrappers around the protocol for sending files, Sendme is the one I use. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47935026

I don't want to send things over the internet, I want to do things locally.

https://www.iroh.computer/sendme

Iroh's protocol can figure out if the devices are on the same LAN and avoid going over the internet. It can work without a discovery server too -- i.e. completely LAN.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#237

Post by thingortwo »

moo-jason wrote: post #209
eigenspace wrote: post #28

My problem is that all these alternatives require the devices to be on the same local network. One beauty of Airdrop is that it creates and handles that local network automatically under the hood (as far as I understand). So you could be out on a hike with friends and Airdrop something. The workaround I've found after switching to an Android device has been to teather my connection to my friend's device, which ends u…

https://mbarlow.github.io/thinair/ Device to device transfer, just a static github page. gh repo: https://github.com/mbarlow/thinair Creates QR codes for each device to scan for webrtc. Android to android will do an audible chirp that lets the devices know to switch from qr code mode to opening the camera to scan each others codes. Tested android to apple and working, the audio chirp doesn't get caught by apple. Just…

This is using webrtc and speeds are slower than a physical USB I get 3-4MB/s instead of local network speed of 30MB/s due to browser browser implementation bottlenecks. I needed fast local network sharing of files over 5GB and tried a lot of approaches and speed doesn't budge more than 6-7MB/s .

Also you don't even need a server atleast for now in chrome webrtc transfer can work over a file:// in firefox it doesn't. For signaling you could even use free peerjs tunnel or other when user is connected to internet and otherwise fallback to this QR or offer code sharing. This will become so useful if browsers eliminate those bottlenecks.

also even in localsend speeds are limited usually to my internet speed for some reason.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#238

Post by user3939382 »

nyreed wrote: post #45
eigenspace wrote: post #28

My problem is that all these alternatives require the devices to be on the same local network. One beauty of Airdrop is that it creates and handles that local network automatically under the hood (as far as I understand). So you could be out on a hike with friends and Airdrop something. The workaround I've found after switching to an Android device has been to teather my connection to my friend's device, which ends u…

For true crossplatform p2p the closest I have found is FlyingCarpet [1]. But it is not super reliable or friendly. [1] https://github.com/spieglt/FlyingCarpet

I use wormhole.app

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#239

Post by gonzalohm »

burner35534 wrote: post #200
subscribed wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never worked for me, not even once. I tried on three phones, two of which are using the same account, I'm reasonably confident I am technically competent to not make silly mistakes, though the best I've achieved was endless wait. I had better success with IR and BT file transfers. Hell, even spinning a local http server (with python -m http.server) works better than quick share.

Idk what Quickshare is, but AirDrop has only worked like 25% of the time for me

Quickshare is the Google alternative to airdrop

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#240

Post by lukeschlather »

Xantier wrote: post #42
eigenspace wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't QuickShare cross-platform. My wife has an iPhone and my desktop and laptop are linux, so QuickShare is a non-solution for me.

Which alternatives are you using for AirDrop on Linux? I haven't been able to find a good one for this yet.

With Linux it's very easy as long as you're okay going offline - just make an ad hoc wifi network, have the other device connect to it, then you can do whatever (Localsend, host a local webserver on the linux machine, whatever.)
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