LocalSend
Send files between any two devices on the same Wi-Fi.
Instead of AirDrop, Google Quick Share
Screenshot from localsend.org, taken 2026-10-23, shown to help you recognise the tool. It belongs to its maker. Ask us to remove it.
Somebody at every dinner party has the good photo on a phone that will not talk to anyone else's, and what follows is the familiar ritual of emailing it to yourself, dropping it in a group chat or promising to sort it out later. LocalSend ends the ritual. It sends a file straight from one device to another over your own Wi-Fi, with encryption, and it runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, so the Android phone, the iPhone and the Linux laptop at the table can all swap files with each other. No company server sits in the middle of the transfer and there is no account to create.
Most of its high marks come from there being very little to subtract. It is free and open source, it asks for no account, and it sends nothing through a server run by a company, and it scores a 5 on footprint, lock-in, self-direction, power and longevity. What it asks of you in return is a moment of attention at both ends, since both devices have to be running it when a file is on its way.
Transfers go over your own network, so both devices have to share one, and a file meant for somebody across town needs another route; Delivery is a 4 for that reason alone. Computer people used to call the floppy-disk-and-a-brisk-walk method sneakernet, and this is a version of it where the shoes have been swapped for Wi-Fi and the room still has to be the same room.
Having it around is closer to keeping a good screwdriver in the drawer than to subscribing to anything. You open it on both ends when something needs to move, the file arrives, and there is nothing to sign into and nothing to renew.
- Sends files straight between devices over your own network, with encryption
- Needs no account and no company server in the middle
- Works across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS
What stands out
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For comparison, we also reviewed Google Drive (15/30) as a benchmark.
Other tools for “move files between my devices”
CryptomatorEncrypts the files you keep in any cloud folder before they leave your device.
PairDropSend a file to a nearby device from the browser, with nothing to install.
SyncthingKeeps folders in sync directly between your own devices.
NextcloudYour own file storage, calendar and contacts, on a server you choose.