Nearby devices never seem farther apart than when you need to send a photo, file, or another snippet of data between them, particularly when the computers in question run on the wrong mix of operating systems.
Apple’s AirDrop works marvelously well (sometimes too well) for transfers between iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but it doesn’t support Android and Windows at all. Google’s Quick Share is equally convenient for Android-to-Android transfers. It now includes a Windows app, and is adding limited iPhone support without Apple’s cooperation, but that software has no support in sight for macOS.
A free, open-source app called LocalSend, however, includes clients for all of those OSes, plus Linux. Install them on your devices and you can stop resorting to relaying the file through a cloud storage service when your choice of platforms—or that of a friend or colleague—doesn’t align with Apple or Google’s strategic priorities.
How to Send Photos or Files With LocalSend
There isn’t much to using LocalSend: Open the app on both devices when they’re on the same Wi-Fi network, and click or tap “Send” in the copy on the sending device, and you should see the name of the app on the receiving device.
By default, LocalSend generates these device handles based on an adjective-food pattern, yielding results that can evoke the monikers of NSA surveillance programs or international cybercrime gangs: Efficient Onion, Handsome Mango, Cunning Blackberry, and so on. You can also write your own in the Settings dialog.
On a willing Wi-Fi network, transferring bits via LocalSecond should be pretty easy. (Credit: Rob Pegoraro)
Then choose a file, media item, clipboard contents, text you type into a small dialog or even the contents of a folder. Click or tap the receiving device, switch to that device to accept the transfer, and watch the bits to zap across.
Can’t Find a Reliable and Trustworthy Option? Make It Yourself
Berlin-based developer Tien Do Nam came up with the idea because he had the same problem we’ve all encountered. “It was around Christmas 2022 where I needed to send and receive photos/videos between multiple devices,” Do writes in an email. “Unfortunately, I could not find a solution at that time that was trustful and reliable.”
He elected to develop this on an open-source basis to address people’s possible anxiety over installing a new app from an unknown developer. “Trust is only achievable with openness and transparency,” he said.
But he’s since realized other benefits from opening the app’s development to outside contributors, coordinated via a GitHub repository. “I don’t use Linux as a desktop but thanks to many contributors, LocalSend works quite well on Linux,” he wrote. “Progress indicator on the Windows taskbar and autostart on macOS are also honorable contributions.”
Get Our Best Stories!
Get the Most Out of Your Technology
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Do invites voluntary contributions to this project but does not condition use of the app on giving any. He described the money that comes in via the donation options in the app and on the LocalSend site as “not enough,” saying that he’s now focusing his attention “on more profitable projects to set up a stable financial base” that would make it easier to put more work into the app.
Since I promoted LocalSend to home-screen icon status on my mobile devices and added shortcuts to it in the macOS Dock and the Windows 11 taskbar, the only glitches I’ve encountered have involved uncooperative public Wi-Fi networks. And in that case, it’s obvious that the app won’t work: After you select “Send,” that copy of the app won’t list any others under “Nearby devices.”
For example, I saw that happen on the Wi-Fi at a cable-industry conference in Washington in October and at a United Airlines lounge at Boston Logan International Airport in November. But in October, LocalSend worked properly on the Wi-Fi at United’s lounge at National Airport in Washington. It also performed as usual on the Wi-Fi aboard one of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela trains in late August.
Do said networks with Internet Protocol address isolation active—which he described as “very likely to be enabled in public Wi-Fi networks because of security reasons”—will break the app.
Recommended by Our Editors
As long as in-flight Wi-Fi isn’t the issue, you can work around that by creating a temporary wireless network via your phone’s mobile-hotspot function.
Do said LocalSend’s development roadmap includes rewriting its core code in Rust for better performance and to allow more secure device pairing via public and private keys. Shipping support for the WebRTC framework will also allow the addition of a web-app client, already available in beta form at web.localsend.org.
Looking farther ahead, Do said he aims to support the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Aware standard for peer-to-peer communication, which would eliminate the need for two LocalSend clients to be on the same wireless network.
Moving to that industry-backed framework also opens up one possibility raised by Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham in a recent report: Since the EU Digital Markets Act’s interoperability rules have compelled Apple to revise at least the iOS version of AirDrop to run on Wi-Fi Aware, a future version of LocalSend might be able to talk directly to AirDrop clients.
Do wasn’t willing to say he could make that happen, warning that “Apple could ‘update’ the protocol to keep its garden closed,” but he did reiterate this overriding objective: “The goal of LocalSend is to use any available transmission option possible so you can share files anywhere.”
About Our Expert
Experience
Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in computers, gadgets, apps, services, telecom, and other things that beep or blink. He’s covered such developments as the evolution of the cell phone from 1G to 5G, the fall and rise of Apple, Google’s growth from obscure Yahoo rival to verb status, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe forums to Facebook’s billions of users. Pegoraro has met most of the founders of the internet and once received a single-word email reply from Steve Jobs.
Read Full Bio
