Hey,
I was wondering what folks use to quickly send a file or a link between your PC and android phone in a lightweight and self hosted way.
Currently I use syncthing to copy files around, but I’m looking for something more immediate, and quick than doesn’t involve searching for folders in a file manager.
Example use case: Send a file from PC to phone. Notification pops up on phone, tap it to access.
(PC runs OpenBSD)
What lightweight software do you guys use?
Stuff I tried so far:
- syncthing
- xmpp
- tox
- scp and termux.
- magic wormhole
- telegram saved messages
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Here are a bunch of local services I’ve used at one point or another from phone to PC or PC to PC. Not sure if any links are out of date.
KDE Connect
Wormhole (Closed Source)
- Site: https://wormhole.app/
LocalSend
- Site: https://localsend.org/
- Source: https://github.com/localsend/localsend
SnapDrop
- Site: https://snapdrop.net/
- Source: https://github.com/RobinLinus/snapdrop
ShareDrop
- Site: https://www.sharedrop.io/
- Source: https://github.com/szimek/sharedrop
FilePizza
- Site: https://file.pizza/
- Source: https://github.com/kern/filepizza
Original Wormhole
- Site: https://webwormhole.io/
- Source: https://github.com/saljam/webwormhole
PeerTransfer
JustBeamIt
- Site: https://justbeamit.com/
- Source: https://github.com/justbeamit/beam
Send Visee
- Website: https://send.vis.ee/
- Source: https://github.com/timvisee/send
- List of instances at: https://github.com/timvisee/send-instances
+1 for LocalSend. Well worth checking out.
Another +1 for it here. Use it multiple times a day between Linux, MacOS, android, and iOS.
+1 KDE Connect. File transfer works great on Android, Linux, and even on Windows 10/11! Clipboard sync is also a game changer; super easy to copy and paste across devices.
+1 Love LocalSend!
PairDrop is a fork of SnapDrop, which at one point had more features and active development. Don’t know, how it is nowadays though.
Hey wormhole is closed source? Wow I didn’t knew that.
There are two, the original open source version and its forks, and then the closed source version.
I love localsend.
Works on Linux, Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. It is basically an OS agnostic Airdrop.
It’s FOSS, so you can go to the Github and build from source for OpenBSD, but I have no idea if that would work.
Dart (the language it’s written in) doesn’t work on BSD, so sadly that’s out of the question for now.
Dang, that’s too bad. Hopefully one day!
Kdeconnect. Alternatively NextCloud or sending an email to myself.
open source, can be self hosted or you can use the official instance.
Personally I have been using KDE connect most of the time when I am at home.
Pairdrop I use more when sharing with other people across the internet.
Never heard of that tool. Thank you for sharing it!
pairdrop
I like this a lot.
A question. Docs say:
Your files are sent using WebRTC, encrypting them in transit. Still you have to trust the PairDrop server. To ensure the connection is secure and there is no MITM there is a plan to make PairDrop zero trust by encrypting the signaling and implementing a verification process. See issue #180 to keep updated.
Does this mean if you self-host on your LAN for personal use without https, then nothing is encrypted, or does WebRTC negotiate its own crypto?
Sounds like WebRTC crypto is mandatory.
I usually use kde connect.
KDE Connect also works on Gnome, Windows and Android. I can’t recommend it enough. Transfering a single image from phone to PC is instantaneous
And having a unified clippboard is just so convenient
Localsend works great for me.
Yeah, can recommend that one too Although it sometimes seems to have some performance problems with a large amount of files - could be, that it’s already fixed though
Yeah for large folders and stuff probably better to use SFTP or WebDAV
Kde connect is also a option
A bit heavy for my taste.
What is heavy about that? Is it more complex on BSD or something?
Installing KDE will pull in hundreds of packages.
There should be clients for other DEs. I know there’s a Gnome specific one and I think there’s an independent one as well.
As I have basically all devices connected to my Nextcloud instance, I simply use that. I don’t have any “time-critical” file transfers though.
Well my transfers aren’t “time critical” either, but life feels easier if I don’t have to jump through hoops to solve a task that involves copy files around.
Re: next cloud, looking for something more lightweight than that.
For more manual stuff; Ssh and X-Plore File Explorer.
Internal, sd card, ssh, ftp(s), google drive, dropbox, and a bunch of other cloud providers; treats it all like one big file system that I can casually copy/move files between.
For just syncing files between folders: FolderSync. The ‘downloads’ folder on my phone is setup as a 2-way sync with a folder on my server. Drop a file in either side, click sync, file is in both places. I use this to keep most of the files on my phone backed up, not just syncing the download folder.
I was a dedicated xplore user for years until I saw all the advertising cookies that they stuffed into it. That made me sad and I uninstall it.
I just paid the whole 4$ for the pro version and to support an otherwise free app I’ve quite enjoyed.
No ads/tracking anymore.
Devs gotta eat.
I also had the pro version. Last time I installed it, it asked me to review a bunch of cookies.
This was about a year ago. Could have changed since then.
I keep a fairly close eye on my DNS traffic; it still does crash reporting through Crashlytics (which I just block), but that’s about it.
I use pairdrop. I don’t personally self host it, but that option is available. It’s better suited to more one-off situations, as there’s no history kept anywhere.
Selfhost: https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/pairdrop
Open instance: pairdrop.net
Not heard of this one. Thanks.
I use QuickDAV and OwlFiles.
I’ve tried LocalSend for this, but I usually end up using more reliable ways like Syncthing (not instantly transfered, but at a decent speed) or sending myself the file on Element for Matrix (as good as instantaneous).
FX File Explorer has a local web-access feature. Start it on your phone and access via local IP, then just turn it off when you’re done.
Don’t use on public wifi, it’s http-only.
I often spin up a quick python http server. Just go to the folder which has the files you want to transfer and run the following command:
python3 -m http.server. This will server the folder contentServing HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8000 (http://0.0.0.0:8000/) .... On your phone you can then browse to http://PC_IP:8000 and download what you want/need.Too much typing, especially if transferring from phone to computer.
Thanks though.
Is it safe though?
Safe as in encrypted and/or authenticated? Not at all! I only do this on networks I fully trust and with files that are not too sensitive. But it’s quick and easy to set up. All my machines have python installed so hence the idea.
I’d use anything else that is based on rsync over Syncthing
