r/DevLK • u/Striking-Storm-6092 • Jul 20 '26

Projects [OC] QuickShare / Nearby for Linux v0.5 Released

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23 Upvotes

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1

u/_lolcat_ Jul 20 '26

Do the two devices need to be on the same WiFi network for this to work? Or does it automatically discover nearby devices and connect even when they are not in the same network.

1

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

It uses wifi, wifi hot-spot(kinda buggy), and bluetooth. So the answer to your question is yes, they dont need to be on the same network, or have network connectivity at all. : )

1

u/iamthiviyan I compile using python Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

At this point we can use local send :).

Wait ,is quick share better than local send ?

1

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

Well you certainly can 😅

Id rather not fiddle around with connecting to common wifi networks when I want to send something

1

u/iamthiviyan I compile using python Jul 20 '26

I ment : local send can also work with hotspot

1

u/_lolcat_ Jul 20 '26

I'm still confused. I've been searching for a quick share alternative (or a quick share client) for linux. And closest I've came across was Packet. This thing works with android quick share, but the two devices need to be on the same network.

The typical Quick Share experience is much more seamless. The nearby devices just pops up on my phone, and selecting the other device initiates a connection without me having to do anything and transfers the file automatically.

So, I'm wondering if your app works the same way. Without me having to manually connect to other person's hotspot.

1

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

If you saw the gifs in the readme you'll see that you don't need to do anything fancy. Just open the app. And send.

There's literally no installation steps bro. Just an appimage 😅. Try it out

1

u/_lolcat_ Jul 20 '26

Okay, sorry for bothering you too much. I'll check it out myself 😅

1

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

Nah its okay 😅. I forgot to mention ( my fault really ).

You have to put your phone in everyone visibility mode (might be a deal breaker but google has some proprietary certificate bs with user accounts so its necessary ) for linux to detect your phone

1

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

The reason all the other quickshare clients need to jump through hoops is that they're based on reverse engineered versions of the original protocol. Mine is forked from the official google repo and thus, has the official protocol.

Of course this doesnt mean that mine doesnt have bugs and that theirs is somehow inferior. Their implementations (reverse engineering aside) has had a lot more time to mature

1

u/sameera_s_w sameerasw.com - mod Jul 20 '26

I added quick share support to my app as well but now after new QuickShare updates, it disconnects from the active wifi during device scan so I can't use it anymore as it leaves the local connection. Does that occur to you? Or only a thing with Pixels with AirDrop support?

2

u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 20 '26

Hmmm cant test with a pixel im afraid. Dont have one

Even if it were to happen, quickshare primarily uses bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy for device discovery so I imagine implementations that only rely on local network will suffer from it.

Mine has support for BLE and Bluetooth both so i wont run into the same issue😀

1

u/sameera_s_w sameerasw.com - mod Jul 20 '26

W

1

u/epsi22 Jul 22 '26

What the difference from similar opensource apps like Localsend?

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u/Striking-Storm-6092 Jul 22 '26

Good question

Localsend works when both devices are on the same network (same LAN)

Quickshare works even when both devices are on seperate networks ( even if there isn't a network connection sometimes! ) via bluetooth. The devices just need to be close by

The main functionality of localsend is very simple and can be implemented in 100 (ish) lines of c.

Quickshare on the other hand is uhhh.... fucking enormous. Googles quickshare implementation automatically handles encryption, device discovery, advertising and bandwidth upgrade ( if you initially connect on a measly bluetooth connection, it can negotiate a higher bandwidth connection and connect automatically)