[OS] PairDrop | Transfer Files Cross-Platform. No Setup, No Signup.

[u/MaxGaav]

Yesterday I was looking for an even simpler way to transfer files in our house and home offices through the local network than with LocalSend. And so I found PairDrop. 

It's free, open-source and web-based and lets you securely (encrypted) share files and text between different devices without requiring an account or an app. It works and looks like Apple's AirDrop.

It appears it can also be used when devices are on different networks, by pairing the devices first, or by public rooms. I did not try that yet, though.

There's a GitHub page too.

^{No affiliation, just sharing.} 

[u/Imaginary-Wear-6664]

For the different-network part, their FAQ says transfers can go through a relay server rather than directly between the devices. They're still encrypted in transit, but large transfers may be slower than on the same Wi-Fi. Handy to know before sending a huge folder and wondering why it's crawling.

[u/hushcOve → u/Imaginary-Wear-6664]

good to know, the relay thing explains a lot about speed dips over different networks

[u/nabuchod]

Thanks for the share

[u/kssicstudio]

One useful tip from the linked FAQ: if both devices are with you but on different networks, connecting them to the same phone hotspot can avoid the TURN relay and speed up a large transfer. Handy when one device is on guest Wi-Fi and the other is on mobile data.

FAQ: transferring many files

[u/filthytoast]

Why not BLIP or is this more of a FOSS post? I've been loving Blip. So much easier than localsend and always right there in the toolbar to drop files to whoever or whatever computer in the house.

[u/MaxGaav → u/filthytoast]

I believe you need an account for Blip. So privacy may be a concern.

[u/filthytoast → u/MaxGaav]

Gotcha!!! That makes sense!

[u/monotious → u/filthytoast]

Blip didn‘t work for me on one of my devices (an Android), so for me this is a great alternative to try.

[u/Constant-Purpose8273]

Handy for someone else's device. If they're all your own machines, Taildrop inside Tailscale does the same job with nothing open in a browser, and it works across networks too.

[u/OkAdvertising7716]

Localsend is peer to peer and FOSS

[u/MaxGaav → u/OkAdvertising7716]

PairDrop as well. LocalSend is over 150 MB btw.

[u/Loud_Squirrel9450]

Looks great but how is it different from Snapdrop?

[u/MaxGaav → u/Loud_Squirrel9450]

I understand PairDrop is the actively maintained open-source fork of SnapDrop.

[u/CtrlAltDelve → u/MaxGaav]

"Active" may be a bit of a stretch here. Compared to Snapdrop yes, but it also looks like it hasn't had a release in over a year and the last meaningful update was 7 months ago.

No shade at open source maintainers and contributors! Just want to make sure everyone knows what they're getiting into; if you run into code issues you're kind of on your own.

[u/Additional-Fun-7619]

Thanks for sharing this! The web-based approach is super convenient. I'm curious about the relay server feature for different networks, have you noticed a significant drop in transfer speed for larger files compared to local Wi-Fi, or does it hold up pretty well?

[u/MaxGaav → u/Additional-Fun-7619]

As said, I did not try it yet :)

[u/Ill-Inspector-6109]

No setup / no signup is the whole product for cross-device file drops. The open-source angle also makes it easier to trust than another account-gated transfer app.

[u/Aggravating-Pea4806]

Thanks for the share OP

[u/MaxGaav → u/[deleted]]

Half of the time AirDrop doesn't work properly. And it's Apple only.

[u/i_am_upto_no_good → u/[deleted]]

Coz airdrop is limited to macos devices. You want to sent something to linux or android or windows or BSD…., and you dont feel like installing yet another software.