{"slug": "airdrop", "name": "AirDrop", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "", "recommenders": 7, "commenters": 22, "warners": 7, "score": 1.732, "rising": -0.96, "first": "2025-11-20", "latest": "2026-09-16", "why": "For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 6, "compare": 2, "warn": 7}, "spark": [2, 0, 1, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["AirDrop"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793418707, "item_id": 49588669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49588669", "by": "ssl-3", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Quick Share on Android (or Apple's AirDrop) can automatically stand up a fast, private", "excerpt": "Speaking for myself, but: I think it's just lack of market demand. I used to give people data on a disc -- first floppies, then CD-R, and eventually DVD-R. It got the job done, was often much faster than sorting out how to do it over the network (especially if they were already standing right there), and it was cheap-enough. For a long time, when I wanted to carry some data from A to B, I'd just put it on some manner", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "M-DISC \u2013 DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years"}, {"id": 766947345, "item_id": 47934209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934209", "by": "worldsavior", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's not even close to the speed AirDrop has.", "excerpt": "It's not even close to the speed AirDrop has. This is not an alternative to AirDrop. I tried it multiple times but it's slow every time. These alternatives don't use the same technology.", "context": "", "use_case": "file transfer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop"}, {"id": 756143504, "item_id": 47258969, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47258969", "by": "BuckRogers", "date": "2026-03-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "seamless Airdrop", "excerpt": "That's interesting. I knew foldables have been selling well, and I assumed they were basically the promise that tablets were trying to sell but as you said- usable this time. I've never heard anyone's actual story laid out like this before though. Now I'm having second thoughts on what I'll do myself because I would have never guessed a foldable would be ideal as you described. I've been trying to avoid building an $", "context": "owns an iPhone 12 mini", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Introduces iPhone 17e"}, {"id": 755278337, "item_id": 47204896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47204896", "by": "charcircuit", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet.", "excerpt": "I recently switched to iOS and found alternative for those. For YouTube without ads and background playback you can use Brave. For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet. There is an official Anki app for iOS where AnkiDroid is a third party app. In regards to extensions Safari does support them, along with Orion, but I decided to forgo using them. >real alternatives browsers Using", "context": "", "use_case": "device file syncing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Samsung Galaxy update removes Android recovery menu tools, including sideloading"}, {"id": 743769872, "item_id": 46485617, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485617", "by": "ofrzeta", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "From a UX perspective Airdrop is super nice.", "excerpt": "From a UX perspective Airdrop is super nice. I don't know if there are working implementations for other OSs. Just found this here but didn't yet test it https://github.com/seemoo-lab/opendrop (hasn't been updated in 2 years, so maybe not too promising)", "context": "", "use_case": "File sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 777965201, "item_id": 48622825, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48622825", "by": "crote", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "IPv6 doesn't solve the Airdrop problem.", "excerpt": "IPv6 doesn't solve the Airdrop problem. It'll only work at reasonably-fast speeds in the rare case that both people are connected to the same wifi network - but there's already tools like LocalSend[0] for that. Having a file go via cellular provider A, halfway across the country, through some IX, halfway across the country back, and via cellular provider B tends to make things a bit slow. Similarly, using P2P for gam", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Hits 50% IPv6"}, {"id": 768859936, "item_id": 48053746, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48053746", "by": "fragmede", "date": "2026-05-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Airdrop still doesn't work when I share directly from my phone.", "excerpt": "Airdrop still doesn't work when I share directly from my phone. If I hit share, and then choose the airdrop target directly, it doesn't work. If I open airdrop and share to the same device, then that works. For cross-platform local sharing, I use KDE-connect.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too"}, {"id": 736922288, "item_id": 46057643, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46057643", "by": "crazygringo", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "AirDrop wouldn't work until I restarted my Mac", "excerpt": "Honestly, LLMs are about as reliable as the rest of my tools are. Just yesterday, AirDrop wouldn't work until I restarted my Mac. Google Drive wouldn't sync properly until I restarted it. And a bug in Screen Sharing file transfer used up 20 GB of RAM to transfer a 40 GB file, which used swap space so my hard drive ran out of space. My regular software breaks constantly. All the time. It's a rare day where everything ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't care how well your \"AI\" works"}, {"id": 735876001, "item_id": 45992250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45992250", "by": "50infivedays", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "some have network restrictions, and some require apps, which can be quite annoying", "excerpt": "Many friends who have a lot of messy devices must have encountered problems with data transfer and file transmission, and there are usually several methods: Transferring files through IM\uff0c account is very inconvenient, as it requires many mini accounts. Using services like Airdrop or Localsend, some have network restrictions, and some require apps, which can be quite annoying. Some websites for uploading and syncing d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cross-platform file transfer method"}]}], "who": [{"by": "BuckRogers", "context": "owns an iPhone 12 mini", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47258969", "date": "2026-03-05"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["moving photos between devices", "file transfer", "device file syncing", "file sharing", "daily file sharing with apple devices", "transferring files between apple devices"], "compared": [{"slug": "localsend", "name": "LocalSend", "co": 10, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "quick-share", "name": "Quick Share", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45994854", "title": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47933208", "title": "Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062504", "title": "The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49721322", "title": "Apple Reference Image: A New Approach for Verified Photography", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49531619", "title": "M-DISC \u2013 DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48616800", "title": "Google Hits 50% IPv6", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 3, "neutral": 5, "recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 795681680, "item_id": 49730105, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49730105", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Airdrop has been supported on many Android devices even outside the EU for a while now: https://www.android.com/quick-share/with-iphone/ Or you could just email/WhatsApp/... it.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Reference Image: A New Approach for Verified Photography"}, {"id": 793418707, "item_id": 49588669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49588669", "by": "ssl-3", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Quick Share on Android (or Apple's AirDrop) can automatically stand up a fast, private", "excerpt": "Speaking for myself, but: I think it's just lack of market demand. I used to give people data on a disc -- first floppies, then CD-R, and eventually DVD-R. It got the job done, was often much faster than sorting out how to do it over the network (especially if they were already standing right there), and it was cheap-enough. For a long time, when I wanted to carry some data from A to B, I'd just put it on some manner", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "M-DISC \u2013 DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years"}, {"id": 777965201, "item_id": 48622825, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48622825", "by": "crote", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "IPv6 doesn't solve the Airdrop problem.", "excerpt": "IPv6 doesn't solve the Airdrop problem. It'll only work at reasonably-fast speeds in the rare case that both people are connected to the same wifi network - but there's already tools like LocalSend[0] for that. Having a file go via cellular provider A, halfway across the country, through some IX, halfway across the country back, and via cellular provider B tends to make things a bit slow. Similarly, using P2P for gam", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Hits 50% IPv6"}, {"id": 769811728, "item_id": 48113233, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48113233", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-05-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use use AirDrop to myself for this.", "excerpt": "Oh, I use use AirDrop to myself for this. Yes, given my photo library syncs to iCloud, just opening Photos seems like it makes sense on a fast WAN which I sort-of do have, but of course, iCloud syncs only happen when the device decides the mood is just right, and can't be triggered manually, because I guess that would just be 'clutter' in the UI.", "context": "", "use_case": "Moving photos between devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence \u2013 Coming Fall 2026 \u2013 Googlebook"}, {"id": 768859936, "item_id": 48053746, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48053746", "by": "fragmede", "date": "2026-05-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Airdrop still doesn't work when I share directly from my phone.", "excerpt": "Airdrop still doesn't work when I share directly from my phone. If I hit share, and then choose the airdrop target directly, it doesn't work. If I open airdrop and share to the same device, then that works. For cross-platform local sharing, I use KDE-connect.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too"}, {"id": 767028433, "item_id": 47939277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47939277", "by": "justmarc", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "That's why we worked very hard to create the ultimate, nothing held back tool and recently launched it. Works across any device/user/platform. UI, CLI, Local network, over the internet, anything. P2P + E2EE. https://zynk.it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop"}, {"id": 766973920, "item_id": 47935870, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47935870", "by": "hrdwdmrbl", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I'm all for alternatives to AirDrop.", "excerpt": "Why not use WebRTC? 0 download. (I'm all for alternatives to AirDrop. I'm all for AirDrop inter-operability. Nothing against those things.) For LAN file sharing, you can do it with any browser. Implementations like: https://sendfiles.dev/ (though there are many others)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop"}, {"id": 766947345, "item_id": 47934209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934209", "by": "worldsavior", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's not even close to the speed AirDrop has.", "excerpt": "It's not even close to the speed AirDrop has. This is not an alternative to AirDrop. I tried it multiple times but it's slow every time. These alternatives don't use the same technology.", "context": "", "use_case": "file transfer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop"}, {"id": 756143504, "item_id": 47258969, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47258969", "by": "BuckRogers", "date": "2026-03-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "seamless Airdrop", "excerpt": "That's interesting. I knew foldables have been selling well, and I assumed they were basically the promise that tablets were trying to sell but as you said- usable this time. I've never heard anyone's actual story laid out like this before though. Now I'm having second thoughts on what I'll do myself because I would have never guessed a foldable would be ideal as you described. I've been trying to avoid building an $", "context": "owns an iPhone 12 mini", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Introduces iPhone 17e"}, {"id": 755278337, "item_id": 47204896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47204896", "by": "charcircuit", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet.", "excerpt": "I recently switched to iOS and found alternative for those. For YouTube without ads and background playback you can use Brave. For syncing files between devices AirDrop is easy and doesn't require internet. There is an official Anki app for iOS where AnkiDroid is a third party app. In regards to extensions Safari does support them, along with Orion, but I decided to forgo using them. >real alternatives browsers Using", "context": "", "use_case": "device file syncing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Samsung Galaxy update removes Android recovery menu tools, including sideloading"}, {"id": 743769872, "item_id": 46485617, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485617", "by": "ofrzeta", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "From a UX perspective Airdrop is super nice.", "excerpt": "From a UX perspective Airdrop is super nice. I don't know if there are working implementations for other OSs. Just found this here but didn't yet test it https://github.com/seemoo-lab/opendrop (hasn't been updated in 2 years, so maybe not too promising)", "context": "", "use_case": "File sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever"}, {"id": 737092625, "item_id": 46068289, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46068289", "by": "noname120", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "macOS (but not iOS) also supports AirDrop via local network", "excerpt": "Has already been possible for a while: https://github.com/aylishime/WarpShare The trick is that it doesn\u2019t use AWDL: macOS (but not iOS) also supports AirDrop via local network, although it\u2019s not enabled by default: https://github.com/vinint/MoKee-WarpShare/issues/3#issuecomment-1005877802", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop"}, {"id": 737026592, "item_id": 46064162, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46064162", "by": "tech234a", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Also people have mentioned having success Airdropping to macOS devices", "excerpt": "I'm fairly sure the article is wrong. For example, someone found strings in Google's implementation that mentioned AWDL: https://social.treehouse.systems/@nicolas17/115584732339035177 Also people have mentioned having success Airdropping to macOS devices, which are not listed as being supported on the Wi-Fi Aware page.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop"}, {"id": 737007392, "item_id": 46062962, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062962", "by": "madeofpalk", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop", "excerpt": "People keep mentioning Wi-Fi Aware with this, but so far haven't seen anyone actually prove that this is the case. Apple undoubtedly added Wi-Fi Aware support to iOS https://developer.apple.com/documentation/WiFiAware, but its not clear whether iOS actually supports AirDrop over Wi-Fi Aware. Apple clearly hasn't completely dropped AWDL for AirDrop, because you can still AirDrop from iOS 26 to earlier devices. Note th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop"}, {"id": 736922288, "item_id": 46057643, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46057643", "by": "crazygringo", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "AirDrop wouldn't work until I restarted my Mac", "excerpt": "Honestly, LLMs are about as reliable as the rest of my tools are. Just yesterday, AirDrop wouldn't work until I restarted my Mac. Google Drive wouldn't sync properly until I restarted it. And a bug in Screen Sharing file transfer used up 20 GB of RAM to transfer a 40 GB file, which used swap space so my hard drive ran out of space. My regular software breaks constantly. All the time. It's a rare day where everything ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't care how well your \"AI\" works"}, {"id": 736028545, "item_id": 46001784, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46001784", "by": "felipeerias", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "compare", "quote": "", "excerpt": "If I am not mistaken, Bump still required a connection to the Internet. WiFi Aware does not, because the phones create an ad-hoc link on the spot. The connection can be very fast. In this example, a 280 MB file is transferred in less than 10 seconds: https://vimeo.com/418946837", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735956384, "item_id": 45997274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45997274", "by": "thewebguyd", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use AirDrop, AirPods auto switching on calls, and universal clipboard daily", "excerpt": "That's how it reads to me. They made a big deal during the Pixel 10 launch to talk about Apple/iOS features, and switching from iPhone to Pixel. They called the blue/green bubbles childish, and they put Magasafe in the Pixel and explicitly said \"you can use all your Apple accessories.\" Google is going hard after iPhone users by trying to punch holes in Apple's walled garden anytime they can. AirDrop is another hole i", "context": "", "use_case": "Daily file sharing with Apple devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735946640, "item_id": 45996665, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45996665", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use AirDrop all the time for transferring files between my iPad and Mac.", "excerpt": "Besides what others have mentioned, it's also nice for moving files between your own devices - I use AirDrop all the time for transferring files between my iPad and Mac.", "context": "", "use_case": "Transferring files between Apple devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735940177, "item_id": 45996261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45996261", "by": "jddecker", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "One thing I like about Android Quick Send is that you can generate a QR code, that the other person scans, and it'll send the file to them. I use it so rarely, and most people I know are the same, so usually it's just turned off and I find a lot of other Android users are the same.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735930880, "item_id": 45995680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45995680", "by": "jampa", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Another benefit is that photos sent by Airdrop get automatically backed up.", "excerpt": "I used them. Compression is an issue in other protocols (sending via WhatsApp, for example). Another benefit is that photos sent by Airdrop get automatically backed up. It also works well in areas with poor internet connectivity. For example, some beaches have weak cellphone signals due to their surroundings, so when meeting friends, we generally use Airdrop.", "context": "", "use_case": "Local file sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735923425, "item_id": 45995214, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45995214", "by": "bilal4hmed", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Quick Share currently works with AirDrop's \"Everyone for 10 minutes\" mode", "excerpt": "not supported right now, but seems they might be able to make it work in the future https://security.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-quick-share-support-for-airdrop-security.html To ensure a seamless experience for both Android and iOS users, Quick Share currently works with AirDrop's \"Everyone for 10 minutes\" mode. This feature does not use a workaround; the connection is direct and peer-to-peer, meaning your data is", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10"}, {"id": 735876001, "item_id": 45992250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45992250", "by": "50infivedays", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "some have network restrictions, and some require apps, which can be quite annoying", "excerpt": "Many friends who have a lot of messy devices must have encountered problems with data transfer and file transmission, and there are usually several methods: Transferring files through IM\uff0c account is very inconvenient, as it requires many mini accounts. Using services like Airdrop or Localsend, some have network restrictions, and some require apps, which can be quite annoying. Some websites for uploading and syncing d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cross-platform file transfer method"}]}