LocalSend has been a godsend (pun intended) to me. I used Snapdrop/Sharedrop before, but it was always a coin toss if the transfer would work or not. I ended up switching to filedrop, but for some reason my transfer speeds were really low.
With LocalSend my issues have been all but resolved. I can send huge files between my pc and phone without fear of it disconnecting, and it works on my pc, old notebook, my dad’s iPhone and my android phone. I really can’t thank Tienisto (the creator) enough for what he built.
Can you help me with something? When I read “all but resolved“ I think it’s been everything apart from being resolved? Am I cursed‽
In this case what I meant to say is that I practically don’t have issues anymore. Apologies if it sounded confusing, English is not my first language.
Don’t apologize. It is mine and I struggle. Thanks for elaborating
That was actually a correct usage, fwiw (said as a native speaker with a penchant for caring about language – so that’s all but confirmed).
That’s how I understand “all but”, but I’ve seen many people use it the opposite way, so maybe we’re wrong?
How does it compare with pairdrop.net?
Just tried sending an 8GB file and it froze. Worked great to send a small image tho!
https://github.com/localsend/localsend
Looks really cool
We’ve connected all the computers worldwide, enabled real-time communication between anyone on the globe, developed amazing applications that run online, millions using them simultaneously. Yet, we still struggle to send a file between devices that are right next to each other.
I also enjoy that one, but I found out, that the file transfer doesn’t work on my university network.
Any reason to use LocalSend over Syncthing?
They have different usage scenarios.
LocalSend is for the occasional sending of files/folders from A to B or B to A (One direction only).
Syncthing’s primary usage is for keeping the exact same copies of files on A and B automatically.
Also has the huge advantage for me that it actually works. I could never get Syncthing to work no matter how much I tweaked it. This worked instantly.
And the interface is not a mess too.
I agree on Syncthing’s UI, and it did take me some time to understand it and get it working right. But I could only get LocalSend to accept files on my Pixel from my PC when I had the app open. Even with quick save turned on, it wouldn’t accept the file without having the app open. But maybe that’s the point of LocalSend? More deliberate file sharing?
For Syncthing I had to add a bunch of rules to my firewall to allow the necessary connections between my PC and smartphone. And for that I had to find, install and familiarize myself with a fire wall first. And after that ensure that the fire wall service is running always. Summa summarum: it’s not something that is likely to work out of the box.
The great thing about Syncthing is that once you have it set up properly it really does work. It silently does its thing in the background and I never think about it
Haven’t used LocalSend yet but I imagine it’s going to be much less of a pain if the traffic is all routed through the Brower.
