P2P local file transfer based on WebRTC

(pairdrop.net)

28 points | by halb 3 hours ago

5 comments

  • ssl-3 2 hours ago
    Seems to work well, at least between my Linux desktop and my wifi-connected Android phone; both showed up without any hassle, and sending files each way was boring in the best of ways.

    It also supports something it calls "Private Room," which doesn't require the endpoints to be on the same LAN. This also works well, at least with my phone on 5G and the Linux box ultimately connected with DOCSIS.

    No idea how many intermediaries, if any, are involved with any of this, and for my normal purposes I don't care at all.

  • felooboolooomba 2 hours ago
    It's crazy that in 2026, transferring files between two random, willing, devices is still a hassle.
    • TheRoque 47 minutes ago
      Solution I've been using for a while is KDE Connect. Works on windows, linux, android
    • mikeweiss 1 hour ago
      Not anymore with this?
  • jech 2 hours ago
    Nice design, but that's the kind of functionality that's best integrated within a chat or videoconferencing application, since within a conference you can be pretty sure that you send the file to the right person.

    For a demo, go to <https://galene.org:8443/group/public/hn/>. Login twice in two different browser tabs (leave the password field empty). Click on the username of your partner, and choose Send file.

    • felooboolooomba 2 hours ago
      No, it's best to write the data on a USB stick and see the person in real life. Ask for ID and do a retina scan. Then you can be pretty sure that you give the file to the right person. Make sure to cryptographically sign the data so the recipient can be sure it's you.
    • Orphis 1 hour ago
      In modern conferencing applications, users are not connected with each other, they are connected with a central server.

      Transferring files shouldn't involve that central server, so you'd need to establish a direct connection between the users, and with network topologies those days, it will most likely require a relay between the two. It's not great.

    • ssl-3 2 hours ago
      I used your demo. It does not do what you say that it does.

      I opened a tab and signed in as "username".

      Then I opened another tab and signed in as "username" there, too.

      Thus a shared chat exists with two users named "username".

      Whatever this is, it is not the path of disambiguation.

    • alhadrad 2 hours ago
      I don't agree with this.
  • als0 2 hours ago
    Reminds me of https://sharedrop.io
    • julkali 2 hours ago
      It's apparently a fork (Github Readme)
      • chaosharmonic 5 minutes ago
        Yeah, I'm pretty sure these are all descendants of SnapDrop, but development or hosting or both seem to keep dying off the various forks every few years.

        That one is, apparently, now owned by whoever also owns the zombie brand of LimeWire.

  • ButlerianJihad 2 hours ago