this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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Anyone has a fool proof method? Preferably that does not involve third party apps, or a Foss one.

PS at home I use mixplorer over my home WiFi, but on the go WiFi direct would be useful. I use a Samsung smartphone and lenovo tablet, both on android 14. I can easily connect them, but I never see any WiFi direct option in the share menu (nor Samsung's quickshare)

EDIT: Enabling Quickshare on both devices then the quickshare icon shows up in the share menu.

Although:

  • it asks to deactivate WiFi direct (as Markaos says below, probably so it can decide the best connection type, and probably active WiFi direct on demand)

  • it relies on the contacts of the Google account. As I use a dummy and different gmail on both, and Foss apps for contacts, the only way to share is to "allow sharing with everyone for 10 minutes"

So my question remains as to how to use Wi-Fi direct well...directly.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (2 children)

localsend makes it easy.

i used it for android to android, android to mac, mac to ipad, &c

i as a fool can confirm that it's "fool proof"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Relies on local network as the name says

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

hotspot works fine.

one connects to other's hotspot and both can send/receive files. Helps when you're out in the middle of nowhere

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Could you explain the steps ?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago
  • enable hotspot on the first device
  • connect the second device to this hotspot
  • open localSend on both
  • send and receive

i have an always on vpn, so i have to disable rules and conditions for localSend.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Localsend has never failed me. You can find it on F-Droid for android and their website for installation options for desktop.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Doesn't this require the devices to be connected to the same wifi?

Edit: OP already replied so nvm

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

The description says it is over the local WiFi though, so not what I'm looking for

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The Quick Share option missing is weird - Nearby Share/Quick Share is supposed to be available on every Android 6 or newer device since roughly 2020. And it's supposed to be able to automatically figure out a reasonable way to connect the devices (LAN if they are in the same network, Bluetooth or WiFi Direct otherwise).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You are right that it is workable, I will edit my post. I thought quickshare was a Samsung thing only

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I tried this between the Samsung and my Debian laptop and none ever recognised the other. Also quite sure it relies on a local network?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

If you use a free VPN like Proton you'll need to disconnect from it to be able to see devices on LAN.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Not sure if it helps but i fixed this problem by connecting both devices using a cable. Works like a charm now, even over network

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

And wifi direct isn't a local network?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No, it is more peer to peer (imo)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Your opinion is moot, WiFi direct is a network without an intermediary (router/modem) for peer to peer applications. KDE Connect will work or any other network filesharing application

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Even though KDE Connect came with Endeavour OS (arch BTW) I had to allow some firewall settings.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I just use syncthing but not sure outside of home wifi.

[–] muhyb 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah love it. I use it to share files between Linux, Android, Windows, Steam Deck, and MacOS. Best OS agnostic sync tool I've used.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

@stardust @muhyb LocalSend for simple file transfer is quite nice

[–] muhyb 2 points 4 months ago

Seems pretty useful. Thanks for sharing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Looks simpler to set up than syncthing. Nice find.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I use KDE Connect with my laptop and it just works (Linux with KDE required)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Or gnome with gsconnect. I think it's actually even out on windows now...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Works wih bspwm too

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Linux with KDE required

Not true, it's available for all major distros regardless of DE as well as Windows and Mac OS

https://kdeconnect.kde.org/download.html

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I use localsend, if I need to share between devices while out and about I just turn on hotspot to create a local Wi-Fi network.

All the sharing tools built into android are garbage, none work properly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This is why I only buy Androids with MicroSD. This problem was solved in the 1980s with the invention of floppy disks. Now it seems they have worked hard to "uninvent it" so your data needs to go through their servers before you are allowed to have a copy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (9 children)

You know that you can use a cable or a flash drive right? Fiddling with microSD cards seems annoying.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To share from where to where? For sharing with your own computer at home I just have a SMB share and I use Cx File Explorer to access it like I would on a PC. For direct phone to phone sharing... I haven't had to do that in ages, so I wouldn't know. I have a number of solutions for cloud file sharing that are platform agnostic, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was specifically asking for what you haven't done in ages

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, direct phone-to-phone transfers have been rare and mostly replaced by cloud shares for me. It's just easier to add the file in question to some cloud destination that allows link sharing instead.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I use Superbeam. You can send to desktop too

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

when there is LocalSend one doesn't even need to know what is wifi direct.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I like LocalSend because it can send folders without zipping them, but it did fail for me once when I was sending a folder with 7000 pics.

But LocalSend isn't a direct option like airdrop, devices need to be connected to a same hotspot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

WIFI file transfer, downloaded from pure apk:

https://m.apkpure.com/wifi-file-transfer/com.smarterdroid.wififiletransfer

You have to allow third party apps to install it but then you're good to go.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

EDIT: In my excitement to share a way to do this I didn't realize you don't want FOSS or other apps so I deleted my original comment.

EDIT2: See my reply to OP.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Sorry if it is misunderstanding. I meant no app if possible, but a Foss app would be OK if unavoidable

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I'm interested!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Warpinator works quite well for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I think I sorta used it in the early 2010s but with 3rd party apps to transfer larger files phone to phone instead of bluetooth.
Nowadays NFC does it fine enough but I rarely have the need to share files outside of my home.

[–] derpgon 1 points 4 months ago

I cam vouch for Snapdrop/Pairdrop or whatever it is called nowadays. Requires opening a browser and being on the same network. Snapdrop does support sending files over the internet, but I couldn't get it to work last time I tried.

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