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Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

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Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#81

Post by hmottestad »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #37
rollcat wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Airdrop is actually viable for transferring huge files, like RAW photos or ProRes footage. I've had video engineering professionals ask me if it's viable to implement Airdrop support in something like a camera or a recorder, not because it's pretty or doesn't need cables, but because it would save them time in a media workflow (they are busy people).

Resilio Sync's pretty fast and less fussy than AirDrop, I also don't like keeping AirDrop running chronically

I have been using Resilio Sync between my Mac, Synology and an android e-ink tablet. Everything was working fine when I set it up, then a few months later when I wanted to transfer something I discovered that Resilio Sync on the Android e-ink tablet had forgotten about the shared folder. Trying to set it up again is a pain. I would prefer AirDrop over Resilio Sync any day of the week.

Resilio Sync is also incredibly slow when the two devices are not connected to the same network. Like kb/s slow.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#82

Post by spieglt »

cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

Mine does! https://github.com/spieglt/flyingcarpet

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#83

Post by windowsrookie »

Cupprum wrote: post #40

I am still missing why people are so crazy about airdrop. Sure, it seems nice, and is nice to interact with, but all my stuff is already in the cloud and i don't seem to need to share it very often with people around me. What are some of the use-cases you personally use airdrop for?

I put almost nothing in the cloud. So for me it's an easy way to transfer files between devices. I'm often moving files between two Macs.

When I go on a vacation with friends, they want a bunch of photos and videos that I took. So I can easily just airdrop them to my friends.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#84

Post by newZWhoDis »

rollcat wrote: post #24
cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

This. Airdrop is actually viable for transferring huge files, like RAW photos or ProRes footage. I've had video engineering professionals ask me if it's viable to implement Airdrop support in something like a camera or a recorder, not because it's pretty or doesn't need cables, but because it would save them time in a media workflow (they are busy people).

This. Apple’s built in migration tool always (well, the last 3 years anyways) fails to move everything in my File’s app over to the new device.

I’ve moved ~500-800GB via air drop in one go before.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#85

Post by windowsrookie »

1B05H1N wrote: post #13

Do you guys actually share this much locally? I have my local sync'd to my cloud storage and just pull it down if/when I need it. I'll just email/text people around me if they don't have airdrop compatibility.

Yes I do. I'm often moving files between two Macs and sometimes my iPhone. I have a few important documents and maybe 100 photos backed up in my free google drive storage, everything else is stored locally.

Email/Text has very small files size limits so that's not an option for me.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#86

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

hulium wrote: post #77
jckahn wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Setting up the server is no effort at all. This assumes that the user has a level of technical knowledge that most people don’t have.

Which of the steps that I described required advanced technical knowledge? Edit: Ah maybe you thought setting up the server is an additional step. It is not. Share via HTTP is the server. It runs directly on your phone. The URL points directly to your device.

And the remote user's authentication is handled, how? And the routing, NAT, and discovery of your server's private IP address is handled?

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#87

Post by hulium »

tsujamin wrote: post #71
hulium wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can create a hotspot and start a HTTP server. Scan a QR code to connect to the hotspot, then a QR code for the file URL. It's easy and works with any device with Wifi access. For the server, on Android I use "Share via HTTP". On desktop running a lightweight HTTP server is easy too. Edit: Apparently that sounded complicated, here is how I can share a file from my phone to any other phone in the same Wifi. - Click…

Let me just teach my mum how to run a HTTP server and generate QR codes to send me photos of our lunch /s

An app like "Share via HTTP" does that for you.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MarcosDiez...

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#88

Post by zevon »

Cupprum wrote: post #73
Angostura wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person A takes group Photo. Person B "could I have that"? Two people touch phones and hit accept.

But neither of these implementations are going to provide this functionality, because of lack of development kits, right? So in the end people would just send it over some messaging app, which scales nicer, or create a shared album, which also scales nicer. Because smashing phones in group of 10 people might get tedious.

The functionality described by the person you are replying to is part of all Apple devices. It also works without being on the same messengig app and without having the recipient in your contacts in the first place.

Another example for AirDrop use cases is transferring large media files to another device. People use that all the time for moving recordings to their editing computer, for example. Even if you have all your stuff in the cloud (which not everyone does) - it‘s much faster to do a local transfer than uploading and downloading something like a high res raw video from a modern phone.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#89

Post by mckn1ght »

voisin wrote: post #46
Obscurity4340 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resilio Sync's pretty fast and less fussy than AirDrop, I also don't like keeping AirDrop running chronically

> I also don't like keeping AirDrop running chronically Why?

It’s better now that you can choose only to expose it to contacts, and only enable it for “everyone” for a limited time. I seem to remember in the past you could leave “everyone” enabled indefinitely, evident anytime you stood in a crowd.
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