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

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

bilsbie

Comments (148)

  • eigenspace
    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 up creating a LAN that Localsend can work through, but this is not as nice an experience.
  • anon
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  • lxgr
    I feel like we need a spamsolutions.txt [1] for purported AirDrop replacements.This one fails the "must not require an existing Wi-Fi network that both peers are connected to" criterion.[1] https://craphound.com/spamsolutions.txt
  • miguel-muniz
    https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/pairdropA similar project but this one works entirely in the browser and can connect to clients beyond your local network with "public" rooms
  • newhotelowner
    And it works in the browser. https://web.localsend.org/From windows to android to iOS.
  • a7fort
    Recently started using it, it works really well and it's much more reliable than AirDrop. But the UX could be improved.But I just wish Apple fixed AirDrop, every time I go to use I have so little confidence in it, it often doesn't see devices or if you have multiple Mac users it will confuse them, showing you the same Mac device twice without telling you which user it is
  • satvikpendem
    Look into Sendme [0] and AltSendme [1] (which is a GUI around the former), they use Iroh [2] which is an open-source encrypted peer-to-peer relay service to send data so there are no limits whatsoever for sending and receiving files, because there's no central server.From my earlier comment about a similar thread a couple days ago about which file sharing apps people use [3]:[0] https://github.com/n0-computer/sendme[1] https://github.com/tonyantony300/alt-sendme[2] https://github.com/n0-computer/iroh[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47906587
  • nightwalkerkg
    The closest I found to AirDrops ease of use is Blip https://blip.net/. Works like charm, supported on pretty much all platforms, works on local and non-local networks (P2P) and has no file size limit. I was pretty surprised it's free for personal use.
  • bluebarbet
    For years I have been syncing with great success using the most basic FOSS tools: `rsync` over `sshfs` on desktop, and SSHD (via an app called Dropbear available on F-Droid) on mobile, using an ad-hoc network over the wifi hotspot (which is turned on by Macrodroid - alas not FOSS - when the device is plugged in). This setup is rock-solid reliable and very fast.
  • vivzkestrel
    - pro tip, if you want to send a directory, compress it as an archive and send i- for whatever reason, even the same sized directory takes much much longer than its corresponding archive version when using this tool
  • coldstartops
    Hi,I am late to the party, but I was also building in this space in the last year,Basically I did a peer to peer filesystem named keibidrop: https://keibidrop.com/I made it public last week. It does what local send does, but also via WAN. Still did not launch the mobile apps.And 1 up is that it has also a virutal filesystem that is synced both ways.repository is here: https://github.com/KeibiSoft/KeibiDropThe code is open source, except for the UI, and I did benchmark on loopback vs localsend (local send is faster :D )https://keibisoft.com/blog/keibidrop-benchmarks-vs-competiti...and was also trying to get a commenting thread in /r/golang yesterday!behind the hood I went with PQC, + gRPC + FUSE.
  • Unicironic
    After switching to Linux, this was one of the very first applications I installed.It really helped cement how great open source apps can be for me.
  • worldsavior
    It's not even close to the speed AirDrop has. This is not an alternative to AirDrop. I tried it multiple times but it's slow every time. These alternatives don't use the same technology.
  • ddtaylor
    Just use the existing magic wormhole protocol. It works and has been deployed for a long time.
  • myself248
    I swear there's a new one of these every year. Not a single one sticks around.
  • subscribed
    I use it on all my devices and tbh it's the absolute best option I found.Previously I was using syncthing or had to install ftp server, used wormhole after packing all my files into one, etc. Android QuickShare never worked for me (wouldn't help me much with sending to the pc either).It has some rough edges (ie: on multi-homed devices it's less that ideal to see the one octet that matters, when the list is very long scrolling whilst sending will cause the process to crap out), but other than that it's always reliable.I'm very happy with it too.
  • akihitot
    This application supports the following platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and FireOS. I was surprised. It is very interesting that it is implemented using a combination of REST API, HTTPS encryption, and local networking.
  • zie
    I just use send(formerly FF send) and share a URL via chat or whatever: https://github.com/timvisee/sendWith a CLI tool as well: https://github.com/timvisee/ffsend
  • viktorcode
    One of the most convenient aspects of Air Drop for me is that it selects the fastest available connection between the devices and ability to work without both devices being on the same network.I wonder if any of the alternatives do the same.
  • gumboshoes
  • dTal
    I love this software for its reliability (as compared to, say, KDE Connect, which I gave up on after years of frustrated use after it became clear that the developers did not believe there was an issue and it would never improve).I do not love that it is a heavy electron app that takes many seconds to launch on my mid-spec machine and burns 20% of an entire CPU core the entire time it is running.Why can't we have a simple command line tool that works?
  • max8539
    Using LocalSend to send files across iOS, Mac and Windows. When everything is on the local network, it works pretty nicely.
  • andunie
    This works great for me to transfer stuff between my own devices in my home, but it's not an AirDrop replacement at all, so I don't know why they advertise it like that.
  • mikae1
    Lovely, but was replaced by KDE Connect for me. Connect works for iOS, macOS, Android, Linux, you name it.
  • justindotdev
    came with omarchy pre installed, usedd it ever since. bonus points for it being open source too. i was surprised it is written in flutter. looking at how mutli-platform it is, flutter was the more appealing choice.
  • t43562
    To send files locally why not set up a wifi hotspot?Then you can transfer files to and from uncool people with Android or Linux phones/computers using localsend.I've never found this difficult and often use hotspots when I'm overseas - it's cheaper to get internet for one phone and share it with the others for example.
  • ifh-hn
    I love this app, it's on all my devices, it's also written in my favourite cross platform development framework (dart/flutter). Very useful app, with a massive advantage of airdrop, no need for apple. Irrespective of if it's a drop in replacement.
  • xd1936
    Great app. I wish it supported PWA features like Web Share Targeting.https://web.dev/articles/web-sharehttps://developer.chrome.com/docs/capabilities/web-apis/web-...
  • tnelsond4
    I end up just opening a web server in termux on my phone and having the other side download from my hotspot every time i want to transfer a file because all the other android solutions really really suck.
  • smusamashah
    List of browser based p2p file sharing tools https://gist.github.com/SMUsamaShah/fd6e275e44009b72f64d0570...
  • jmarchello
    Localsend is awesome! My team and I use it all the time for safely transmitting vpn configs, ssh keys, etc... It works flawlessly. The auto-generated names are pretty fun too.
  • gejose
    Been using this on all my devices (macos, iPhone, iPad, android, windows) and love it!
  • faangguyindia
    I used it, but it prevented my mac from sleeping. After some investigation I found it's local send.
  • JackFener
    I'd love this to work but I always had trouble making it work on my google tv. Wanted to share files (~2 gb files) from my Mac to my TV but the transfer kept failing
  • mrbombastic
    I use this all the time dropping files from old android device to mac, thanks devs!
  • bahadiraydin
    I've been using this for years, simple, gets the job done. Nice UI.
  • hrdwdmrbl
    Why not use WebRTC? 0 download.(I'm all for alternatives to AirDrop. I'm all for AirDrop inter-operability. Nothing against those things.)For LAN file sharing, you can do it with any browser. Implementations like: https://sendfiles.dev/ (though there are many others)
  • _-_-__-_-_-
    Been using LocalSend for a few years, it works great even when sharing files between devices sharing a mobile connection.
  • jrflo
    I love local send. It’s ridiculously fast for sending large amounts of media too.
  • MEMORA_AI
    What do you guys think about an AI that has Multi agents personal assistance agentic commander all in one place..??
  • jrm4
    As people have noted, the "local" part makes it hard.Here's my question, y'all. What is the deal with the magic Syncthing uses and why can't we use it for stuff like this? And well, for everything?(I've been doing this stuff for years and I still can't wrap my head around this question)
  • pryanshu89
    Really cool! I used it a couple of times and did not expect it to work. But it worked. :D
  • Forgeties79
    It’s not as slick as AirDrop and you have to sort of “prep“ both devices whenever you want to send/receive anything, it’s never just ready to go, but it’s incredibly reliable and will move anything from one machine to another. Just having that consistency across literally any device is so nice.
  • ohuc
    Using it works perfectly for me!
  • 0xcoops
    So needed
  • throawayonthe
    i really wish Wi-Fi Direct succeededmaybe eventually something like quickshare & airdrop mold into an interoperable thing but i'm not holding my breath
  • rolymath
    Excuse my ignorance but why are there so many solutions like this? Especially if they aren't intercompatible (which I'm assuming they're not)
  • jMyles
    The README and website certainly seem polished, but I haven't used the utility yet.What's the main value prop over wormhole? That it works from the browser?
  • analog8374
    Hey I use this. Works great. Ez.